Plurimum
by Vii Zee
Summary: When Rachel arrives at a school for the all-powerful, like her, she feels as if she's finally found a place where she can fit in. But St Clementine's has a darkness brewing beneath it... Faberry, Brittana, Klaine. OCs will be introduced. AU Fic.
1. Chapter 1

Rachel Berry liked to think that up until that faithful moment in time before her eighteenth birthday she was an ordinary freshman at high school. She had friends from the Glee club, she had classes she attended methodically, she was picked on for being at the bottom of the social calendar. She was your average Joe(ette).

And then two boys showed up at her home one day and decided that, clearly, that wasn't enough.

She remembered the day very clearly. She woke up at 6am, as she normally did, and proceeded through her daily workout. She took a shower right after, dressed in her favorite brown owl sweater, put on her pleated blue skirt and white tights, a pair of light blue shoes, and was packing her back pack, humming to herself happily when her Dad and Daddy poked their heads through the door.

"Rachel? Honey? There's someone here who wants to talk to you…" Dad said, his voice containing a small, barely detectable tremor. She looked up at him and smiled cheerfully, leaving her bag behind and prancing downstairs, her Daddy telling her that the guests were in the living room. As she waltzed down the stairs she clearly heard one man say to the other 'She's finally ready'. But at the time, she had just shrugged it off.

She paused before entering the living room, smoothing down her shirt and wiping the sweat off the palms of her hands. Oddly enough, she was nervous.

'This is ridiculous! I'm Rachel Berry! I don't get nervous!' she thought to herself before breathing in deeply, putting on a smile and walking through the door.

Two boys about her age sat on the sofa. The larger one was twiddling his fingers uncomfortably around, looking awfully out of place in their small room. His knees almost reached up to his chin as he tried to find a comfortable position on the sofa. The other had a Mohawk and two large tattoos on his hands. They didn't appear to make any sense, they looked like spirals and swirls to her. He was slightly smaller than the other male, and had his feet propped up on their coffee table, his hands behind his head in a pose she had seen various characters in Japanese anime do.

She cleared her throat and the two swiveled through heads towards her. The bigger boy got up and clumsily lumbered towards her. "Rachel Berry?" She nodded uncertainly. The other boy got up and smoothly walked towards her too. He was the complete opposite of his companion.

"Dammit girl! We've been looking everywhere for you! We've been on the road for a year!" he growled, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling devilishly at her.

"Looking for me? Why?" she asked. She suddenly sensed her parents enter the room and come to stand behind her. She felt trapped, cornered. Her Dad put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. A flood of images started to seep from his fingers and into her brain, and she shuddered. She wasn't completely used to the fact that her father had abilities that you only read about in books and comics, and every time he used it on her, she was just a little bit more freaked out by the notion.

The images flitted through her mind's eye, showing her that she wasn't in trouble, that she was like him. That these were her friends. They were like her.

She opened her eyes, not even aware that she had closed them in the first place, and moved away from her fathers and to the boys. They towered above her, making her feel like a doll in the presence of giants.

"My name's Finn. This is Puck," the clumsy one introduced, smiling at her goofily. He didn't look very smart, but he had an air of gentleness around him. She liked him already. "As you probably already know, your parents have special abilities we like to call Powers." He put air quotes around the last word, rolling his eyes.

"See, it's a genetic thing," the other boy, Puck, picked up. "And you have a power too. You might not realize it, but it's definitely there. And we're here to pick you up and take you to the place where you're meant to go now that we're sure it's you!"

Rachel's mind stalled then. She looked back at her fathers, then at these boys, then at her hands, and then back at the boys.

"Powers? What…what can I do?"

The boys looked at each other worriedly before Finn bashfully said, "We thought you'd know that already…"

Rachel sighed, and crossed her arms, attempting to take the position of authority she often used to get her way in Glee club. "So you came looking for me on the pretext that I am one of many who have a power, as you say, and yet have no idea what said power is?" she turned around swiftly, catching her Daddy's eye. "And you let them in here?"

"Darling, we trust them! We went through this before too, you know!" Rachel frowned, remembering that her Dad wasn't the only telepath in the room. Her Daddy was too. That's how they had met – they had latched onto each other's wavelengths and didn't stop until they found the one they had been speaking through via their mind. She remembered suddenly that when she was a little girl both of them had made her undergo tests to see if she had the same telepathic abilities, but they had come up failed. She was, apparently, as normal as anyone could be.

So this was a bit of a bother.

"The only way we can find out if you have a power is to do a quick home test, now," Puck reasoned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crumbled piece of paper. He lifted it to his face and motioned to Finn. "Can you start testing her out man?"

Finn nodded and went for a bag Rachel hadn't noticed before, standing near the armchair. He reached into it and brought out a rock. He held it easily in his hand, and handed it out to her. An eyebrow raised, Rachel tried to take it into one hand, but ended up falling onto her knees with the weight. Puck chuckled.

"That knocks out both telekinesis and super strength," he looked up over the rim of the paper and narrowed his eyes. "Have you ever stopped time? Like, been running late for something and just wished time would stop and it did for a few seconds?"

She shook her head.

"OK so, time control is out too."

Finn rummaged back into the bag, his head almost completely inside. "There's gotta be something else here!"

"Have you ever transformed into an animal?"

"No!" Rachel shouted at him, getting more and more exasperated by the questions as each one came shooting at her. Puck sighed and just kept bombarding her. Ever healed a cut? Ever moved a coin without touching it? Ever walked through walls? Ever stretched her limbs to uncanny lengths? Ever found herself coughing fire? Ever touched someone and read their mind? Ever had visions? Ever teleported? Ever duplicated? Each question became more and more short and snappy as both the tiny diva and the big mohawked boy lost their patience. Eventually, Finn came out of the bag holding a piece of glass. He looked overly confident as he stuck it out in front of him.

"Rachel, can you scream at the glass?"

"Excuse me?" She was tired of all these questions now. She was beginning to think this was some sort of joke, that Ashton Kutcher would come out of nowhere soon and tell her she'd just been Punk'd or…whatever!

"Just do it!" Puck growled at her, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We'd be done and out of here sooner if you do!"

That seemed like a good enough prompt. And so she complied.

She addressed every muscle in her vocal chords to get to the highest note she could reach, and for five seconds she gave it out, willing the sound waves to go towards the piece of glass. Puck and Finn winced at the pitch, and suddenly, the glass broke.

"Well, well, well!" her Dad said behind her, and she spun, detecting the smile in his voice. "Our little girl is a Siren!"

"What? What does that mean? What can I do?" Rachel asked, firing her questions at everyone in the room. They were all gawking at her, their eyes filled with wonder and possibly fear. Puck grinned smugly at her and held his hands out to her, his palms out, almost like it was a form of surrender. She noticed that the tattoos ran not only across his arms, but also over his palms, his knuckles, and even his fingers. She thought she saw Latin words embedded in the swirls, but she wasn't sure.

"Rachel Berry, all your questions will be answered, I promise! But you have to come with us, to a school where you'll learn everything."

"But, my dads won't let me go, right?" she half-hoped they would say no. After all, it was a pretty cool idea to be amongst people who were just like her, a place where she finally belonged that wasn't Glee club. But they looked at each other lovingly before nodding at the boys.

"She's all yours! She needs to learn about who she is, how to use her power…everything…"

Finn grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulders.

"Tomorrow we'll be back with the school forms and everything. Pack your stuff tonight. Tomorrow you join us at St Clementine's School for the Gifted."

She nodded, for once in her life completely speechless.

And with that the two boys left.

As Rachel Berry turned around to look at her fathers, a smile started to form and broaden on her face, until it was powerful enough to light all of Ohio with its brightness.

She couldn't wait.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Excuse me, Finn, but I don't understand any of this…" Rachel murmured uncertainly, staring at the paper he had shoved under her nose. He was alone today, a small paper bag with sheets of formal-looking documents inside and a pair of car keys dangling in his pocket._

"_Oh, right, I forgot you don't know Latin. It basically states that you're under our care now, that you'll be sleeping in the dormitories every week and have the liberty to return to your parents' house every weekend and in the holidays if you wish, and that once you graduate you are no longer a responsibility of the school," he shrugged, all this seemingly perfectly normal to him. "It's the basics of the school. Any questions you have will be answered later, I promise." _

_Rachel nodded and signed the bottom of the paper as he had previously instructed and gave it back to him. He grinned and put it back into the paper bag._

"_Why isn't Puck with you?"_

"_He, uh…got into some unnecessary trouble this morning…"_

"_What like, with the police?"_

_Finn shook his head and a sad smile littered his face. "Nah, nothing like that. Don't worry, you'll understand everything later."_

The exchange had been at six that morning, and now it was seven, a Saturday, and she was in Finn's bright red Volvo driving towards her new school.

"So if the school is so near how did it take you so long to find me?" she enquired, munching on the apple she had packed into her bag.

"Well, when we first found out about you, we didn't get enough information. All we found out was that you were in Ohio. So Puck and I were given the task of looking for you and for a year we were just kind of travelling all over the place, asking around, trying to find people with a power, any power! We got desperate! Eventually we got contacted and given one more piece of information: your name. We looked you up on Facebook and last week we drove away from Mansfield and ended up here. We asked around and – tada! – here we are!"

Rachel nodded in understanding, things starting to make a little bit more sense now. "So this power I have, you called it Siren…"

He looked over at her and gave her a dopey grin. "Like I said, everything will be explained at the school. So for now, let me do all the talking. I'll tell you about St. Clementine's."

And for once, Rachel was forced to remain silent as she listened to someone else ramble on.

"So St. Clementine's is run by the Big Five: Mister Olivers, Madame Beofurt, Lieutenant Cristof, Professor Harley and Doctor Edwards. They've all got powers too, and they founded the school. They think that the only way to teach us to really use our powers and to control them is to expose us to an environment where it's perfectly normal to use the powers. The program at the school has a ninety percent success rate. It's really effective and most of the student who graduate never cause trouble for people without powers!

"We only have about three hours of lessons per day. We've got Control for an hour, that's where we learn how to control our powers, obviously. We've got Enhancement where we develop our powers and such, and learn how to properly use them. And then there's Group where we team up and have stimulated training to learn to work in teams. By the last year at the school we've been separated into categories by our teachers and they'll tell us if we should become Heroes or not."

"Wait, Heroes?" Rachel spluttered, not able to contain herself any longer. "You mean like Superman and Batman and those kinda heroes?"

"Well…yeah. Only, we're real!" Finn grinned and let his head fall back as he laughed. "We actually kick ass! But only a select few get chosen to become Heroes, and when they do they're never alone. They're always a team, like of five or six, and they're given a base and everything and they do all their business secretly and keep a select district safe. Only three groups like that ever get out of the school though, and they're usually sent somewhere like Europe. Last year, only one group made it out, they were sent to the Philippines."

Rachel nodded, encouraging him to continue, even though his geographical knowledge was horrendous. He looked at her, noticed her expecting eyes and shrugged.

"I guess that's all you have to know," he said in a low voice, almost as if he was afraid of admitting it. He looked out ahead, almost as if he was seeing something too far away in the distance, and then stopped the car. Looking around her, Rachel suddenly realized that they had arrived.

"We're here." She looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back. "I'll get your luggage." As he opened the door, he paused, turned around and winked at her.

"Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life."

After rushing through a room labeled 'Front Office', getting a bunch of papers with her name on them and something that looked like a timetable (it was too empty to be a real one), and then being shown her locker, Finn put his hands on both of her shoulders and lowered himself to look into her eyes.

"So you've got your time table set. Every day you've got Control at nine, Enhancement at noon and then Group right after. I'm in your Group, but you're in Enhancement and Control with others."

"So what happens now?" she asked, eagerly looking at the paper and then at him repeatedly. The paper was blank other than those three slots, which she took to mean she had all the free time in the world to do whatever during those hours.

"Well, now we walk through this door and go outside and meet the rest of our people!"

"Sounds…awesome!" she twittered, and was just about to step through the door when he stopped her by pressing his hands down on her shoulders a little harder.

"OK, Rachel, after we go out through this door you are going to be assaulted mentally by the images you'll see." She inwardly shuddered. He was making it sound like she was going to walk into an orgy. "The people out there all have powers, just like you do, some of them have the exact same power too!" Oh well, there goes her hope of being unique and special! "But, you have to remember, they won't hurt you. Stick with me, and I'll introduce you to my friends. And you'll fit right in!" He smiled warmly, something he did, she noticed, when he was trying to reassure both himself and herself. She nodded and slipped from beneath his grasp.

"So I'll finally get the answers to all the questions I've been asking you?"

"Yeah."

And so she followed him through the door.

The ground outside was pure green grass, the type she had always imagined she would grow in her perfect little home in the country (after becoming a Broadway star and retiring, of course). There were no flowerbeds, just large towering trees littered unevenly around the space. It looked like a whole two football fields and a half was behind the school building. The immensity of it all blew her away.

But what really got to her were the people.

All around her were teenagers, all between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. They were sitting in the sturdiest branches of trees, on benches around the yard, on the grass itself, sprawled backwards staring at the clouds, running after each other or just standing and talking. They all seemed pretty normal, and Rachel was lost in the illusion…

Until a stray fireball whizzed past her left ear and singed the hair on that side.

She yelled, leaping away from the heat and bumping into Finn's rock solid chest. "What the hell was that?" she practically screamed. He shrugged.

"Somebody probably got a little carried away."

"So that was the product of somebody's…power?"

"Yep!"

She looked up at him, into his brown eyes, and smiled. "What can you do, Finn?"

He looked at her surprised, almost as if he had expected her to figure it out. And then suddenly she was dangling in the air, her face parallel to his. He was holding her from her clothes with his thumb and index finger effortlessly, almost as if she was a piece of paper. "I have super strength."

He let go of her and she landed roughly on her rump. "Ouch. But…that's…cool!"

"Yo, white boy!" a voice rang out. Rachel turned around and saw a large black girl walking towards her, her hands on her hips, followed by a very pale boy with a baby face, and two Asians. She quickly got up and dusted herself down, looking at the figures in awe.

"Hey, Mercedes."

"I see you finally found her," the baby-faced boy said, nodding in Rachel's direction. "She seems…scrawny…"

"Like you're one to talk!" the male Asian retorted, his arm slung around the other girl's shoulders.

The black girl, Mercedes as Finn had called her, looked at Rachel and smiled sweetly. "Hi, darling. Welcome home." She enveloped Rachel in a hug, and Rachel melted into it, feeling as if something in her brain had just given a click, like two puzzle pieces finding each other.

"Mercedes is a T-" Finn began, but Mercedes cut him off with her more powerful voice.

"I got it, Hudson. It's my power, after all! I should explain!" She turned her attention back to Rachel. "I'm a Tracker. I find people with powers and we bring them here. Sometimes I get really accurate pieces of information, like their names, their age, their power, all that stuff. Sometimes though I'm limited. Just a name, just a location, just a gender. With you, all I got was your location, but then last week I got this huge epiphany, and we got your name. and here you are!"

"That click you just felt in your head?" Finn continued, determined to get a word in on this conversation, "that's her power working on you. Since she's the one who Tracked you, it's natural that when you find each other, your brains connect."

"We have a bond, Rachel," Mercedes told her, still holding onto her hands. "It's nothing serious or anything like that, just a telepathic bond."

"So we can speak to each other through our minds?" Rachel asked, shocked. "My fathers are both telepaths and I've never been able to communicate with them! They said it was because I was immune to them, and that I couldn't do it with anyone else at all…"

"Well, we can't really communicate per se, more like I know whenever something's wrong with you, if you're in trouble, where you are." Mercedes shrugged. This was probably one of the most normal things ever for them, Rachel mused. "Once you're Tracked, it's for life!"

"So, what's your power?" the baby faced boy asked, stepping forward and extending his hand. "Kurt. You will not believe how long these people have been trying to figure out what you can do! I put my money on some sort of Monger…"

"I dunno what that means but Finn said that I'm a Siren, and I'm still not completely sure what that means…"

Kurt's faced hardened, and she retracted back visibly. "Urm…what is something I said? Have I offended you in some way?"

The group howled with laughter, the two Asians doubling over and the girl actually falling onto her back.

Rachel looked over Kurt, from his styled hair to his designer clothes and polished Italian shoes. He crossed his arms and scowled. "I was under the impression there were very few of us…"

"Us? So that means that you're a Siren too? So I'm not alone, there's someone like me at this school like Finn said! What can I do? What are our powers? Are we strong?"

Kurt narrowed his eyes, almost as if he was trying to see if she was joking. "Well, we have the ability to reach such high frequencies that we can shatter any surface – we can break glass, rock bridges and buildings, and shatter ear drums. But we can also use it to put people into a trance." He looked her up and down, his face forming distaste at her clothing , then he settled her eyes on her face. "Are you a performer?"

"I've been immersed in the arts since I could walk. I learnt how to sing before I learnt how to talk."

"Have you ever noticed how entranced people are by your voice?"

She nodded. "I always thought it was because I was good."

"I have no doubt that you are a good singer, Rachel, but it also was aided by your powers. You can put people into a lull, a sort of unresponsive state where you can suggest anything to them. And that's what our power does!"

Realization suddenly dawned on her, all the trophies she'd won just because she'd wanted them bad enough, all the people who'd given her solos in plays and show choir performances because she'd directed her voice especially at impressing them…

All the guys she went out with after singing a song merely because the song had been about them.

"Rachel? Rachel!"

"Huh?"

"You were lost in thought. Hi, I'm Tina." The Asian girl pulled her hand out and Rachel shook it, smiling back at her. "I'm an Animus. That means I can shift between human and ghost. And before you say anything," her face became serious and she put a finger up in front of her face, "do not compare me to Danny Phantom."

Rachel giggled and nodded. "Pleasure to meet you. So does that mean you can possess people and walk through walls?"

"That's pretty much what I can do. No firing ectoplasm or whatever. That's just a glorified super hero power. I can, however, communicate with the dead when I'm in my Spirit State."

The boy with her nuzzled his nose into her hair and closed his eyes. "That's how we started dating. She got me contact with my dead grandmother who was haunting me. Once we fixed whatever it was that was holding my grandma from moving on, we started dating and…here we are!" He looked up – or rather, down – at Rachel and winked. "I'm Mike, the resident Mr Incredible."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rachel faltered. "I'm not into all that Marvel comic book stuff…"

"It means I can do this…" Mike extended an arm on and on and on and…

Rachel gawped as the arm reached from where they were standing to the nearest tree, a full hundred meters away from them, before retracting gently back into its intended position.

"Does it hurt?"

"Naw!"

"Well, now that you've met these losers…" Finn winked at them affectionately, obviously joking, "We can proceed to meet the rest of the group!"

He grabbed Rachel by the wrist and started walking, and she found herself obligated to follow. He trekked through the grounds, waving at random people and shouting a quick 'hi' to others, until eventually he stopped at a stone picnic table, where a group of people (and a large black shaggy dog) where seated (on and around).

Rachel spotted Puck amongst them, and he caught her eye and smiled. "Hello my Jewish-American princess."

"Stop flirting, Puckerman!" a boy in a wheelchair rolled his eyes at him and prodded the bigger boy in the shoulder.

"So, guys, this is Rachel. She was Mercedes's Tracked."

Everyone in the group said hi and the dog barked its acknowledgement. Rachel looked at the animal and noticed that the eyes looked decidedly human and deep, not at all like normal dog eyes. It was being patted by beautiful blonde, who was burying her fingers into the fur on its head and scratching behind its ears. The dog closed its eyes and nuzzled its snout into the blonde's hand, giving a soft whine.

"So, we'll make her feel welcome, right guys?" Finn said, and everyone nodded back. He sat on the table, next to Puck, and Rachel found herself being pulled to sit next to the blonde with the dog on her right, and another shorter blonde on her left. She looked back and forth between the two, hoping to catch their attention, but Puck got there first.

"So, time to show off a bit, huh guys?"

He got off the table and stood six feet away from the table. He was wearing a tank top, accentuating his chest muscles and abs, and revealing the tattoos all over his arms even more. He held his arms at his sides in a pose that Rachel knew from self-defense classes: his elbows tucks in on his sides and his fists out and clenched. He closed his eyes and started to mutter words to himself, softly and slowly, and Rachel wondered what was going on until the tattoos started to glow from an inky black to a dark magenta. Puck didn't falter, continued to chant, until suddenly a dark visible force started to seep from his feet into the grass, causing anything to whither. It stopped about two feet short of the table, and everyone started to move backwards.

Puck opened his eyes, the previous chocolate orbs transformed into black embers. He gave a malicious smirk before opening his fists and stepping forward. As he did, his shadow elongated considerably and suddenly seemed to detach itself from the floor and take its own pace forward. It looked exactly like him, only the eyes were golden and the skin was darker, almost like it had been burned by fire all the way through. Puck looked at it with his new black eyes and touched it. As soon as he did, it vanished, giving off a piercing shriek as it did.

The whole table erupted into applause and Puck bowed theatrically. He looked at Rachel and spread his arms wide. "I'm a Daemon. That's a demon summoner. I can basically call forth any demon that exists, and either let them take control of my shadow and fight alongside me, or else let them invade my body and use their powers as my own."

"What about the tattoos?"

"Those are imprints left by each demon I conquer. They're their Latin names. The first time I conquer a demon, it leaves its mark on my arm, sort of like it's claiming me as its own." He shrugged. "Really though, I'm the one doing the claiming here."

"You have to be careful, Puckerman," the blonde on Rachel's left muttered, brushing her hands on her dress and frowning at him. "You know that if you do that too often, the chance of the demon staying in your body becomes greater. And the last exorcist we had…" she fell quiet and everyone at the table sobered up, some of them looked down and hid their faces.

Rachel could only guess what had happened to this exorcist…

"Well anyways, now Rachel knows what I can do!" he smiled, sitting back down. "Take it easy, Q! It's not like I wasn't careful. I have control over my power, you know that!"

The blonde snorted and flipped her hair back, almost hitting Rachel in the eye. "Whatever…"

An uncomfortable silence fell across the table, interrupted by a squeak as the boy in the wheelchair made his way towards Rachel. "I'm Artie. I'm a Mechano-telepath. It means I can control machines. Cars, trains, cellphones, pagers, blenders, TVs…you name it!"

"I'm Blaine," a boy sitting next to Finn introduced himself, leaning over to put a hand on hers. "I'm a Canceller. I basically stop people's powers from working for a short while."

Rachel was just about to say hello when a whoosh of wind started up above them. She looked up instinctively, expecting to see a helicopter, but only saw a blonde boy with wings protruding from his back.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Sam."

He landed next to Artie and smiled at Rachel. "Hi. I'm Sam. And my power is…pretty obvious I guess."

"I'm Rachel. I'm a Siren."

"Oh, looks like Kurt's got competition!" Blaine laughed, slapping his knees. She couldn't help but notice how his eyes sparkled when he said the other boy's name.

"Him and Kurt are going out. It's kinda cute," Rachel heard on her right. She turned her head to the blonde that was patting the dog. She smiled sweetly, and Rachel felt a tugging at her lips compelling her to smile back. "I'm Brittany. I'm a Social Butterfly."

"Excuse me? Doesn't that term generally mean that you're easily sociable?" Rachel retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, with me, it's more like I can make people like me," Brittany winked, and snapped her fingers. "Just like that. It's like, people magnetism! I'm like Magneto but with people. And boobs." Rachel laughed, already liking this ditzy looking girl and immediately felt what the girl was trying to say to her as she battled the urge to blanket her in a hug, and crush her to her chest and just hold on to her. She reached her arms out, opening them slightly and was just about to lean forward for a hug when the dog gave a loud, shattering bark.

"Santana!" Brittany yelled at the dog. It leapt off the table and the air around it shimmered. Suddenly, the animal had been replaced by a beautiful Latina, who wrapped her arms protectively around Brittany.

"This girl, Hobbit? She's mine, got it? So don't touch her!" she snarked, and Rachel felt herself shrink back from the angry woman. Brittany sighed and got up, holding on to the darker girl with her hands on her wrists.

"Santana, where are your manners? Be. Nice." She kissed the girl's forehead, and Santana calmed down, some of the fire leaving her eyes. She sat back down on the table, her eyes never leaving Rachel.

"Santana. Shapeshifter. Like it wasn't obvious." She pointed her index finger at Brittany. "And this piece of hotness is my girlfriend, so don't you dare try anything funny or I'll rip your precious little vocal chords out."

Rachel darted her eyes around the table and looked at everyone. They all looked back, their eyes anything but joking.

'Oh. She's serious.'

"The last person who crossed Santana lost three fingers," Blaine deftly remarked. Rachel gulped.

"Understood, Santana."

"Good. Now we can be friends. Or…something like that…"

"Alright, Q, you're the only one who hasn't said anything yet! Introduce yourself!" Finn encouraged the blonde on Rachel's left, who looked up from inspecting her nails and shot Rachel a look of pure indifference.

"I'm Quinn."

She stopped there and looked as if she didn't care that everyone was looking at her with exasperation clearly etched on their faces.

Rachel decided to probe further herself.

"And?"

"Aaaaaaaaand," she drawled out, clearly enjoying the suspense, "I have Mind Control. It's not like the type of glorified mind control in comic books. It's more like…suggestive mind control. Kinda like hypnotism. I plant an idea into your head and make sure it grows. That kinda thing."

"Sort of like the Inception movie," Finn added eagerly.

"Yeah, sorta," Quinn agreed half-heartedly, clearly not very comfortable talking about her powers.

"So, that's everyone!" Finn announced, clapping his hands together in a loud –boom-. He turned towards Puck and started to engage in a conversation with him, prompting everyone around the table to do the same.

And as Rachel was left with no one to talk to, she looked over at Quinn, who was already looking at her.

As their gazes met, she felt the whole world melt away, and anything past those eyes became unimportant. She felt a soft tugging at the base of her skull, reaching out to the rest of her head and causing her brain to go all…fuzzy.

That was the word. Everything went fuzzy.

Quinn's gaze never faltered as she leaned forward, the stare becoming more intense. Rachel felt compelled to do anything, but she just…couldn't…move…

She did, however, manage to blink, and that seemed to confuse Quinn, who stopped moving forward and let a look of confusion decorate her beautiful feature.

'God, she's beautiful.'

"Hey! Fabray!" a voice came from far away. Quinn's eyes snapped away and Rachel felt the fuzziness evaporate. She realized that her mouth was slightly agape and closed it, hoping nobody had noticed.

"Stop putting trances on the new girl!" Puck teased her, and Quinn blushed before getting up and walking away. Rachel watched her walk away, her white dress fluttering against her knees in the soft morning breeze.

"She does that to everyone," Brittany whispered into Rachel's ears. "Q's into girls, like…a lot. And she'd just be gauging you out, to see if you're interesting or anything. The harder you are to let her into your head, the more interested she gets in you."

"Yeah, and you pretty much just blocked her out completely when you blinked," Sam said, shrugging. The wings on his back and mysteriously disappeared. "She'll probably try to get to you even more now."

And as the conversation turned to something a little less confusing than that – apparently cafeteria food (something Rachel had no problem discussing) – she started to wonder that maybe…just maybe…

This was her chance of really being happy.

It was hours later that Rachel met the five people that appeared to hold a power in the school that she had never seen anything like before.

She had settled into her dormitory room, which she was sharing with Santana, Brittany and Tina. Tina had helped her unpack and settle in, and after a fair amount of talking and getting the 411 on everything, she was outside with her new found friends, eating a rice salad she had found in the cafeteria.

As she forked up a wad of rice filled with beans and cucumber, a shadow descended over her head. She looked up and heard Tina groan next to her. In the tree above them sat five individuals who she hadn't met previously, looking down at her with a hungry mask on their faces.

"Hello, New Meat," a boy with white hair nodded at her, drumming his fingers on his knee. "I'm Grayson." He leapt off the branch and landed at her feet like a cat, crouching down to look her in the eyes. "Welcome to the new school."

"Back off, Grayson!" Santana growled, shooing him away with her hand. He smirked coldly at her before walking off, the others in the tree leaping off to join him. They all stopped about fifteen paces away and turned back to look at her. The only girl with them winked at her and then cast her gaze on Santana, who looked away hurriedly.

"Who are they?" Rachel asked as they started to walk away again.

"Grayson and his gang of thugs. They're kind of the most popular kids in school," Brittany said, grabbing the burger on her plate with both her hands and bringing it up to her mouth. "Well, after me, of course."

"What are their powers?"

Tina hooked her arm around Rachel's shoulders and started to point at the five of them, signaling them out. "The girl's Ivy. She's-"

"The best shapeshifter in the school," Santana interrupted, looking down at her feet. "She hates me too. I dunno why. But she's pretty much Public Enemy Number One to me too."

"She's the one who lost three of her fingers to Santana last year," Tina elaborated. "She tried to seduce Brittany. Santana got mad. Viola!"

"What about the others?" Rachel asked, making a mental note never to cross this Ivy character, or Santana for that matter.

"Grayson and the red headed kid? They're twin brothers. The red head's James. They're both Mongers. Grayson's a Wind Bringer and James is a Fire Monger. Monger's are generally people who can control one of the five elements: earth, water, wind, fire and light. Adamo, the guy with the blue hair, he's a variation of a Water Monger, he controls Frost. He's got manipulation of cold and ice down. And the last guy, the one with the huge scar on his face, that's Horatio. He's got Light and Darkness control. It's pretty cool, but kinda annoying when he starts to flicker the lights in the building on and off when he's bored."

Rachel watched after the five of them as they stood above a smaller person, clearly tormenting the hell out of them. She felt anger bubbling up inside her as old high school memories of being slushied by people just like them started to seep into her blood. She felt her fists clench, but then she felt a soft hand on her shoulder as Brittany brushed against her.

"Hey, don't worry about them. They won't annoy you as long as you're with us. They're pretty harmless once they get to know you. Now," she clapped her hands together eagerly. "Show us your wonderful voice!"

Rachel grinned and got up, filling her air with lungs. She closed her eyes and picked a show tune off the top of her head, put her hands on her side, and belted out the first note, feeling appreciation melt over her scalp, over her shoulders and her back as the people before her stood in awe as her voice echoed towards them.

Yes. This place she was going to like.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that day, the evening sky was turning a slow purple as Rachel lay on the grass on a hill in the campus with Puck and Finn. Nearby, Artie sat in his chair, staring up at the sky too. Next to him sat Kurt and Blaine on a red blanket, holding hands and staring into each other's eyes with the purest love she ever saw. In front of them sat Brittany and Santana, who had their legs intertwined and their fingers playing across each other. Sam stood behind Artie, leaning on the chair's handles and keeping the other boy company.

Rachel had walked out of her room a few minutes earlier to see the group walking towards the hill with beaming smiles on their faces. She had asked what the commotion was about. Puck said that it was their tradition that every day, before sunset, they'd cloud-gaze and watch the sunset before going in for dinner, which was always at a considerably late hour. He called it their Sunset Etiquette ritual. It was one of the most peaceful moments of the day, he had said.

She couldn't help but agree.

As the sun started to sink in front of them, slowly being enveloped by the trees, Rachel felt a calmness wash over her. It started somewhere at the tips of her fingers and spread out, causing her to shiver involuntarily as it forced her to close her eyes and relish the moment. A few seconds later, she noticed that the light had changed, and she got off the grass and looked around. Blaine and Kurt had their lips pressed together, and both were smiling into the kiss. Brittany and Santana were just gazing at each other, the fire Rachel had seen in the Latina's eyes replaced with something far less violent. Finn and Puck were stretching, levering themselves off the floor too. And as everyone rose up from the ground, everything seemed like it was going great.

Until a shadow crept up in front of Rachel and blinded her.

She froze, putting her hands up to her face and forcing herself not to scream. She heard a few shouts and then cruel, raucous laughter. She felt a mass press itself against her nose, tightening across her throat. And then suddenly it was gone and she could see again.

"Horatio!"

She noticed the boy then, saw him laughing as he doubled over and almost rolled onto the grass. As he started to calm down, he eyed Rachel with a joking look in his eyes, and moved towards her with his palms out. "Hi there. We didn't get properly introduced. You're Rachel, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm Horatio. And what you just experienced, was my power. Sorry." He blushed and shot his thumb over his left shoulder. "They made me do it. As a dare."

Everyone turned their gaze to the other four people approaching, all of them strolling casually forward. Rachel recognized them from earlier. The popular ones, as Brittany had called them.

"So, Rachel, how do you like this place so far?" Horatio continued.

"Go away, ass hole," Finn prompted, stepping forward defensively. Horatio put a hand to silence the larger boy, and Finn seemed to oblige.

"I'm just making small talk here. No need to be afraid." He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Rachel. "What a Neanderthal."

His four friends had reached him by now, and flanked him on his sides. Ivy was the next to step forward.

"Ivy. And may I say, you could do better regarding your social circle."

Rachel took Ivy's outstretched hand, and looked down when she sensed a weird feeling in her palm. She looked down and noticed that Ivy's ring and pinky finger were missing. Her other hand had no middle finger. Ivy shrugged and pointed at Santana

"Blame that bitch."

Santana growled behind Rachel, stepping in front of Brittany as if she was afraid she would try to be stolen from her again. Ivy laughed and looked back to the diva, smiling as sweetly as she could muster. To Rachel, the smile seemed way too fake, sickly sweet even.

"So, what can you do?"

"I'm a-"

"It's none of your business," Blaine cut in, suddenly appearing at Rachel's shoulder. He grabbed her hand with his own and glared at them. "Look, we get it, you guys are the strongest of your kind. Do you have to terrorize and torture us every waking moment, though?"

The rest of the group gave a collective agreeing shout. Grayson and James looked at each other and smirked at Blaine before holding out their hands. Silently, a spark of fire flew from James's hand, and a gust of wind propelled it towards the boy.

Rachel shut her eyes instinctively, hoping that Blaine would duck in time. When an angry shout came from the twins, she opened her eyes to find that Blaine had somehow made the fire disappear. The twins huffed off, clearly annoyed that they had been bested. Ivy and Horatio followed them, leaving Adamo behind.

He looked at them all one by one, assessing them, before flicking his wrist. A chill descended on them all as frost started to form around their limbs. He smirked and flicked his wrist again, making it all disappear.

"Don't forget what you're up against," he warned before walking away, running a hand through his hair.

As the five figures entered the school building, Rachel turned around to look at everyone. They had all visibly relaxed now, and were walking towards the building when Rachel stopped them by asking, "What was that all about?"

"They're just-" Finn began, but Puck cut him off.

"They're the best of their kind. They've already gotten that status from the Leaders themselves. But the worst part about them is that they're what we call Impure. They have a very conflicted spirit. They're not good, they're not evil, they're just confused. So they tend to do a little of everything. Rumor has it that they're completely evil and that they're always trying to recruit people as their lackeys. What they did to you, they've done to everyone."

"It's a test of strength," Kurt picked up. "They're seeing if you're strong enough to be one of them, or if you're too much of a goodie-two-shoes to be overlooked. It's normal behavior for them with everyone, but they just seem to hate us."

"Why's that?" she asked, feeling just a little bit more confused.

"Because we're Pure, babe," Brittany sang out. "We've got our alliances figured out and we're not gonna turn evil. We're some of the few people in this school who absolutely won't turn over to their side, so they feel like they have to torture us."

"But don't worry. If you just stick with us, we'll keep you safe," Sam assured her, bobbing his head up and down as he walked. "I mean, they wouldn't dare try and kill you. They're bad but…they're not that bad."

It was nearing ten PM, which, according to Tina, was lights out. Rachel glanced at the watch on her wrist. Ten minutes left. She looked around their large room, and smiled to herself. There were the four beds all on the left, a large bay window on the adjacent wall, and a closet and drawer set in front of the beds. Each bed had their own drawer, but they all had to share a closet. There was a small bedside table next to each bed with a lamp on it for reading. Two of the beds had been mashed together, and Rachel figured that that was where Santana and Brittany slept. She had asked Tina if the beds were comfortable. Tina had told her that it wouldn't be the beds interrupting their sleep. Rachel had blushed when realization dawned on her.

She walked out of the room, mumbling to herself about the injustice of there not being a bathroom for each room, but three common ones. As she started to move to the nearest one, her eyes trained to the floor as she watched her feet dance over the tiles, she didn't hear the presence of another human being stepping towards her.

"Hi."

She froze at the melodic voice, and looked up slowly, unsure of what she would find. Before her stood Quinn, dressed in a baggy red t-shirt and grey shorts. She was towel drying her hair, and the small brunette couldn't help but stare at the blonde beauty.

"H-hi."

"What are you doing out of your room? It's lights out in like, two seconds!" Quinn winked at her devilishly. "You don't seem like the type to want to break the rules on your first day here!"

Rachel blushed at how differently Quinn seemed to be treating her now that they were alone. It was almost like they were friends…

"I just want to go and brush my teeth before bed," Rachel explained, holding up the toothbrush she held in her hand. "I don't like to sleep without doing so first."

"Ah."

Silence fell for two seconds before Quinn smirked at the floor, her eyes searching over Rachel's body hungrily. Rachel suddenly felt self conscious, almost as if Quinn had X-ray vision and she was seeing right through her clothes. Before she knew it, Quinn had grabbed the towel and roped it around Rachel's waist, pulling her right up to her chest. They stood that way for a few precious seconds, Quinn's breath tickling the bridge of Rachel's nose. She smirked all the while, boring her eyes into the brunette's. Rachel felt the world go blank, her mind revert back to the fuzziness before, the air in her lungs get heavier and heavier…

The world outside those eyes disappeared. She felt a thread plant itself in her mind, swirling at the back of it, chanting its mantra.

_She's so beautiful…she's too good to be true…_

**Stop!**

She screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head. She heard Quinn take in a sharp intake of breath before the towel disappeared from behind her and she was standing alone.

"Huh."

Rachel timidly opened one eye, looking up at the blonde. The taller girl had her arms crossed across her chest defensively, and a scowl painted across her face.

"You're a lot tougher than I thought."

And with that she turned on her heel and walked away towards what Rachel thought was her room. As Quinn's door closed behind her, a bell chimed, and Rachel found herself running back to her own room. She skidded in and closed the door hastily, panting heavily as she lay against the wood.

"You OK there, Berry?" Santana called from her spread-eagled position on the bed. She had on a simple grey tank top and white shorts, both of which complimented her skin tone marvelously.

"Yeah, you look like you've just seen a ghost!" Brittany said from near the mirror. She turned to Tina and smiled sweetly. "No offence."

Tina shrugged the words away and moved towards the brunette. "You sure you're OK?"

Rachel nodded and pried herself free from the door and moved to her own bed, the one farthest from the door. Brittany moved towards her own bed, her hair piled up into a bun, and settled down next to her girlfriend. She was wearing an overly large white t-shirt that said 'LEBANESE' and a pair of trousers with ducks on them. She saw Rachel look at the t-shirt and winked.

"It's an inside joke."

"And my t-shirt," Santana mumbled as she curled up to Brittany and buried her face into her neck, taking deep breaths as if she was trying to inhale the blonde.

Tina rolled her eyes at the two and grabbed a book off the table near her bed. "I'm gonna take a bit of time to catch up on my reading…"

Rachel looked over at her roommates and smiled as she felt a sense of belonging clutch her chest. As she watched Santana and Brittany settle into each other, she noticed how the Latina mouthed the words 'my' and 'mine' to the blonde constantly, almost as if she was affirming a statement. 'My Brittany'. 'My girlfriend'. 'My love'. 'My life'.

"Santana is very…possessive of Brittany, isn't she?" Rachel murmured to Tina, who looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, she is. It's her animal instincts, you know? She's constantly telling everybody that Brittany is hers, and even tells herself that quite a few times. It's her way of showing love, I guess. Once she takes a liking to you, you'll become hers too."

"I heard that!" the object of their discussion pointed out, flipping them both the bird before shooting a toothy grin as a way of truce.

_Soft hands splayed across her stomach and then started to roam down, but stopped short of the top of her jeans. Rachel opened her eyes and scowled._

"_What the fuck are you waiting for?"_

"_Just…lemme savour the moment!" the blonde above her murmured in a throaty voice before coming down and planting a kiss on her nose. "I love watching you squirm in anticipation, my little songbird…"_

_Rachel slithered her hands around the other girl's back and smirked up at her. "You're so damn beautiful."_

"_Thank you…"_

_And with that her lips were captured in a kiss so tender, so soft, like nothing she had ever really felt before. When she was freed, she stared back into those green-brown orbs and guided one of her hands down to her jeans again._

"_Now, Quinn, you promised you'd give me what I wanted."_

_Quinn laughed and nibbled at Rachel's neck. "Anything for you…"_

Rachel shot up in her bed, wide awake and trembling. The other three girls were fast asleep, and somebody seemed to be snoring a bit. She craned her neck to look out of the window and ghosted her fingers across her lips, feeling for all the world as if the dream had been real.

And god help her, she honestly wished it had been…


	4. Chapter 4

Five figures sat on the roof of the building, sitting in a circle and staring at the night sky. For about an hour, they had sat in silence, reluctant to speak what was all clearly weighing down on their minds. Now it was about time somebody said something…

"I don't think we have a chance with Rachel."

Everyone turned to look at the speaker, and nodded.

"She looks like she's too pure, and with Finn protecting her we've got no chance!"

"Especially not with Quinn in the way."

"We have to get rid of Quinn," two voices said in unison, both male, both rough and low.

"No, not her first," the first speaker argued. "Her lose would mean our demise. We have to get rid of the people nobody will notice first."

"Like who?"

"The Latina is out of the question. She's too protective of all her friends. We'd start an instant war the minute we lay a hand on her. And we obviously can't go for the blonde one either…" a female voice said, holding up her two hands.

"How about that power canceller? We get rid of him, we've got a huge burden off our backs."

"True…"

"Horatio, what do you think?"

The addressee shrugged. "I think that we should stay low for now. Not do anything to anyone. If we do something now, we'd only be spelling disaster. We'd never win."

"One thing's for sure though, we have to find a way to get Puckerman on our side."

"We can always try to get Lopez on our side too," one of the twins stated, and in the darkness nobody knew who it was. "She'd be an awesome edition. Another shapeshifter is always better."

"Do you think she'd want to be in the same place as me?" the female retaliated.

"No, but we can always hope that something will happen that will cause her to come to us. And with that Rachel kid with them now, she seems like the type to want to stick her nose into people's affairs. I'm seventy percent sure she'll do something to make Santana want to come to us."

"Never before have we laid our faith in the hands of somebody who isn't part of our team."

"We've never been so desperate, Adamo."

Adamo rose, stretching his arms and flicking both his wrists. A cold wind ruffled through the air, settling in the campus and covering everywhere in a thin layer of frost.

"Fine. We'll go for it, this time. But I warn you, if by the end of the year we haven't moved an inch, then we are going full out and starting what we should have started long ago."


	5. Chapter 5

Rachel clenched her fists together and brought them up to her face, covering it from the kick Brittany had tried to land. She staggered back, but found her footing right before she fell, and grounded her feet.

"You're putting up a really good defense…" Blaine murmured over to her left where he had stopped his training session with Santana. Apparently the Latina liked training with the boy (something about actually having to focus on her human strength…), even though she constantly called him a Leprechaun.

Then again she insulted everyone. But whatever.

Rachel had been at the school for a little over two weeks now, and could safely say that she thoroughly enjoyed being a student here. She had found a talent in martial arts, learnt how to control her vocal chords so that they didn't put people into a trance every other show tune, become close friends with her roommates (Santana had even warmed up to her and had taken to standing a little closer to her whenever one of the five offenders passed by), and she even found herself staying at the school in the weekends, but sending her fathers an email every day to fill them in on her accomplishments.

"Come on Rachel! Right in the kisser!" Puck shouted out from her right, egging her on. She heard Santana shout something offensive after him, and then turn her attention to Rachel.

"You harm one part of my girlfriend and I swear to God…!"

Brittany smirked at Rachel and brought her leg up in a roundhouse kick, but Rachel ducked just in time, falling flat onto her stomach. The brunette twisted her arms around Brittany's ankles and pulled, getting the blonde to crash down to the floor. Everyone in the training room gave a collective groan before clapping politely. Rachel rose, bowed, and laughed.

"It appears as though I've finally managed to grasp the concept of hand to hand combat!" she happily announced, bouncing up and down and giving a small clap. She turned to look at Brittany, who had already vaulted off the floor and was rubbing the back of her head.

"Impressive, Rachel. Wasn't expecting that."

Rachel smiled at her and held out her hand. "No hard feelings, right, Brittany?"

"Not at all," and she shook her hand, giving Santana a reassuring wink in the process. Santana relaxed, convinced that her lover wasn't hurt, and stretched her arms over her head, giving off a sound that sounded suspiciously like a cat yawning.

"So, guys, are we gonna uphold the tradition of sneaking out tonight?"

Mike looked up and away from gazing into Tina's eyes and grinned. "Are we? Because I seriously wanna go to this new dance club that opened about a mile down the road!"

"You do know that every time we do these outings we're risking expulsion, right?" Kurt prompted from his seat next to Blaine. Blaine however, scoffed and rubbed the boy's shoulders in an attempt to relax him.

"Loosen up, Kurt! It would be fun to go dancing!'

"Wait, I'm not following…" Rachel deadpanned, holding up her hand in an effort to gain some attention. "What are you all talking about?"

Quinn looked over from the chokehold she was holding Sam in and rolled her eyes. "Can I explain?" She released the blonde and got up effortlessly, moving fluidly towards Rachel. "Once a month, we go out as a group. We sneak out of the school using Artie's awesome skills with the security system, and we go down to the city and party for a while. We're always back before anybody notices, and then it's just a matter of acting like nothing ever happened! It's just our way of loosening up a bit."

"So, you break the rules?"

"You can look at it that way, I guess."

"You'll come or what?" Sam asked eagerly, smiling at her with his overly-big mouth, though for some reason Rachel found it incredibly endearing.

She mulled it over in her mind before she smiled and nodded.

"Sure, why not? It'll be the perfect opportunity to get to know all of you better…and get to see your wild sides!"

"Are you sure you're prepared for that?" Quinn laughed, pointing at the female couple not far off, who were already glued from the lips. "You do not want to see how they get when they go wild!"

"Over the past two weeks I've seen a number of things, Quinn. I think that I can handle a bit more."

And with that, she smiled at Quinn. And Quinn couldn't help but smile back, a sincere smile the likes of which hadn't reached her eyes in months.

The group walked in a daisy chain that evening, Tina leading them at the front, walking through walls and dragging them with her. Rachel had quickly learnt that Tina's abilities could extend to others, if she held on to them long enough. And as they walked through the now-busted security system, Tina's powers kept them safe from any detection. As soon as they were out of the final wall, they all released hands and started to move towards the lights not too far off, renewed vigor in their steps.

It took them thirty minutes to get to the city from the school, walking all the while. They were a small group today, Puck Mercedes and Finn having opted to stay behind this time. Sam and Artie weren't joining them to the club, rather going to watch a screening of a new Marvel comic movie adaptation together. The group currently standing outside of the dance club consisted of the Shapeshifter, the Butterfly, the Animus, the Elastic Band, the Canceller, the two Sirens and the Controller.

"Are you all ready for this?" Mike asked, sliding a finger over the rim of his hat. Everyone nodded and he grinned. "Right then, let's go."

They stepped through the beaded curtain entrance and into the hazy hip-hop music. All around them bodies writhed and twisted together, people held drinks above their heads to avoid spilling, and couples lay pinned to the walls reveling in each other's company and touch.

"Woo!" Brittany screamed out, grabbing Mike's hand and dragging him into the dance floor. He started to pop-and-lock, she started to twist around him, and the two fell into an easy rhythm of thrusts, grinds, and barely any touching. Rachel stood mesmerized, standing next to Tina and Santana, who were both looking on lovingly at their significant others.

"You're not bothered by this at all?" Rachel asked the unusually quiet Latina, who shrugged.

"Britt loves dancing. And Mike's cool. Besides, they make an awesome dancing couple."

It was a few minutes later and after gaining a lot of attention and praise from an appreciative crowd that the two dancers pulled away. Brittany made a beeline for Santana, effortlessly pinning her to the wall and trailing kisses up her jaw. Santana wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck, tilting her head back and giving the taller girl access to her neck. Rachel looked away, blushing as she noticed how Santana's chest was starting to heave and how Brittany's hands had started to roam lower…

She instead turned her eyes to look around. She spotted Kurt and Blaine, who had grabbed a table and were sipping at their cocktails and laughing at some sort of joke. A few meters off, tearing up the dance floor, was Mike, who was twirling Tina around him and creating a wide berth for them. They both seemed so happy, it was almost tangible. The light flitted over their hair and clothes, making their movements seem jerky, their bodies almost electrical. She stood, mesmerized, watching how they seemed to fit together perfectly. She longed to be with them, 'tearing it up' and feeling the exhilaration.

"Hey," a voice breathed into her ear, and she turned quickly, spinning into Quinn. The blonde caught her by the shoulder before she fell backwards, and gave her a sincere grin. "You wanna dance?"

"I'm not one for dancing, normally…"

"Rachel," Quinn silenced her, putting a finger up to the brunette's lips, "you're not normal anymore."

Quinn grabbed the tiny brunette's hands in her own and pushed through the crowd until she found a satisfactory spot on the dance floor. She turned to face Rachel and wrapped her arms around the other's girl's waist, pulling her to her. "Dance with me."

Rachel struggled to get out of the strangely strong grasp. Quinn loosened her arms, and Rachel separated herself from the blonde by a few inches. "OK…but not so close…"

Quinn shrugged and started to move her body to the beat, closing her eyes and letting the music take over her senses. Rachel's eyes widened as she watched, and she froze. All she was aware of was the figure in front of her, who had let go by now and was dancing in a swaying that actually seemed quite…

Dare she think it!

Rachel Berry was finding this incredibly sexy…

"Don't just stand there!" she heard over the music as Tina bumped into her and pushed her towards Quinn. "Get your groove on, girl!"

Quinn opened her eyes as Rachel fumbled towards her, and with just a tiny glimmer of a smile, she leaned forward. "Loosen up, Berry."

The shiver that crept up Rachel's spine at the sudden closeness gave her courage. She put her hands on Quinn's hips and pulled her closer to her. No need for words, the blonde understood. They locked gazes and started to rhythmically grind, Quinn's hands firmly placed on Rachel's shoulders, Rachel's arms snaking around the small of the taller girl's back. Nobody around them seemed to be paying attention to the fire burning across Rachel's skin at the contact, but then again she didn't really care about anyone around her.

Quinn's hands moved down from her shoulders, ghosting over her breasts and stopping briefly before moving further down to Rachel's stomach, down to her jeans. She lopped her fingers through the belt loops, pulling Rachel closer (like that had been possible!). Her eyes burned into the diva's, searching them for nothing and anything at the same time. Rachel found her hands diving beneath Quinn's top, running circles across her bare back. Quinn bit her bottom lip, and let her arms slide over Rachel's hips and into her back pockets, cupping her ass subtly.

A few feet away, Santana pointed out the couple to her girlfriend. "Newbies," she murmured, before grabbing a salt shaker and taking some in her hand. "And this time, you're licking the salt of my neck before the tequila shot!"

"I'm sorry, I got lost after the word 'lick'…" Brittany slurred, holding a lemon slice between her thumb and index finger, smiling widely at the Latina.

Quinn seemed to suddenly snap out of her thoughts and realize where they were. She looked around hastily, removed her hands from Rachel, and beckoned her to follow. They pushed their way past massive body that seemed to be Mike and Tina sucking each other's faces, passed a Kurt and Blaine who were slumped against each other, and finally reached a room on the side. Quinn turned the knob, looking relieved when she realized that it wasn't locked. She pushed Rachel inside before closing it behind her.

"I heard about clubs like this having rooms where people can just go to escape the noise. Sometimes they're used for…other things, though…"

Rachel didn't care about the implications of that sentence, merely plopped herself onto the couch. Quinn put her back to the door and relaxed too, staring at the brunette.

"Are you alright?"

Rachel nodded, giving a small shrug at the same time. "Yeah, just never did that before."

"Did what? The dancing like that?"

"Yeah."

"Did it make you uncomfortable?" Quinn asked, and Rachel detected just a hint of worry in her voice, almost like she was just about to apologize.

"No! No…" she hurriedly corrected. "I was just…I'm not used to it, I guess."

"So…you liked it?"

"Yeah."

She heard Quinn move across the room before she saw her next to her, almost as if she had done it so fast that she hadn't noticed. Quinn reached her hand out to cup Rachel's cheek and stared into her eyes, her bottom lip clenched between her teeth. Rachel found her eyes drawn to the blonde's mouth, and the blonde couldn't help but let her eyes wander across the brunette's body.

"I-" Quinn was about to say, before Rachel lunged forward, kissing her feverishly. For a brief moment, Quinn couldn't kiss back. But as soon as she felt Rachel's tongue demand entrance, she felt her mind go blank. She gently lowered Rachel onto her back, kissing her with as much force as she could muster. Their bodies suddenly fit perfectly, more perfectly than when they had been dancing. Quinn released her mouth from Rachel's and put her forehead against the other girl's.

"Well, this is an interesting development…" Rachel murmured, her breath tickling the bridge of Quinn's nose.

"Mm…" Quinn didn't really have the strength or the inclination to reply. She gazed at Rachel through half lidded eyes, panting heavily.

"What does this make us?"

"Shush. You talk too much."

Santana and Brittany were locked together. Completely and utterly locked. Not like the Latina was complaining about it, she loved the taste of the blonde on her lips, the feel of her hands on her body. No matter how tough she seemed, Santana Lopez loved being dominated once in a while. And as Brittany moved them to a room on the side of the bar, she felt completely helpless and just had to follow her…

"What the-?" she heard just as the door creaked open. She reluctantly broke the kiss and spun her head towards the sound. On the sofa they had planned to occupy and make sweet, sweet love on was Quinn, her hair ruffled and her clothes askew. Beneath her, in a mess of brown hair and wide scared eyes was…

"Quinn! You didn't!" Brittany half-screamed, half-laughed. Santana stared open mouthed at the couple, her feet suddenly nailed to the floor. Sure, she had seen them staring at each other during their 'dancing', but she hadn't expected to find them in here, making out. Quinn normally took things much _much _slower (she would know).

Rachel cleared her throat and Santana's eyes shot to her, glaring slightly. "If you don't mind Santana, we'd like a little bit of privacy, please?"

"Yeah, OK, sure…just…keep it PG…right?" she stumbled over her words, the drinking she had been doing finally taking its toll.

Brittany grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, and as soon as the door closed they heard somebody lock it from the inside. They moved to the room next door, thankfully an empty one, and Santana turned around to look at her own blonde girlfriend before putting a hand on her thigh and trailing it up.

"Now, where were we…?"

It was a quarter to midnight when the group finally arrived in their separate dormitories. As everybody whispered a cheery goodbye to everybody else, Rachel felt a hand land on the small of her back and she smiled. She turned around in the semi-darkness to look at Quinn, who was smiling down at her with a smile that could light the hallway. She pushed her lightly against the wall and kissed her, holding her to her tightly before letting go and walking into her own room. Rachel walked on alone, making it into the room just when Tina, Brittany and Santana were slipping out of their clothes.

"So, you and Quinn, huh?" Tina asked, having obviously been filled in by the other two girls in their room.

Rachel put a hand up to her lips and paused.

"Yeah…Quinn and I…"

Santana splayed her hands over Brittany's stomach and breathed in the girl's scent, closing her eyes and reveling in the warmth. "I love you…"

"So do I."

"I mean it, Brittany. I love you. I don't think I'll ever love anybody else as much as I love you."

"Think carefully before you say something Santana. You could regret it later."

"I'll never regret this, any of this, Britt-Britt," she stressed, propping herself up on her elbows and staring into those beautiful blue eyes she had fallen so deeply into. "You're the only thing I'm sure of anymore. I swear to God, even if I leave you, I'll never stop loving you."

Brittany brushed a hand over Santana's cheek, and the Latina shuddered. Brittany's powers were a curious piece of work. Not only could she make people like her, she could calm people down. The Leaders, particularly The Doctor, had explained that it was because of something called a pheromone that she released that just made Santana calm down considerably. She always felt happier in Brittany's presence, safer, and just plain calmer. Brittany used it often on her girlfriend, just to show her that she cared about her. And Santana loved every shiver that it induced.

"I'll never stop loving you either, San."


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel woke up that morning with a tingling across her lips and a ringing in her ears. Her mind registered that it was a Saturday and she thanked whatever deity was listening that it was so. She rolled over to her right, noting that Tina was still deeply asleep (and had a large hickey forming beneath her chin) and that Brittany was alone in her bed. A quick glance to the clock above the door told her it was seven thirty, a full hour before the wake up call. She got up to look out of the window, and quickly spotted a black dog running around, barking after birds.

Fifteen minutes later she was walking towards the animal, who quickly bounded to her and transformed into the Latina, who was grinning stupidly at her.

"Hi, Berry!"

"Hello, Santana."

"What are you doing out so early?"

"I could enquire the same of you."

"Oi, I asked first!" Santana joked, collapsing onto the grass. Rachel gently set herself down next to her and replied with a simple "I woke up."

"Well, my animal clock told me to get up, so I did. I always wake up at this time."

They sat together in silence for a while, taking in the feelings that the crisp morning brought with it. Rachel found herself humming the tune to Greensleeves, running her hands through the dewy grass. After a few moments, she stopped, noting that the Latina was staring at her. She blushed and mumbled an apology, to which Santana shrugged. "It's OK. I kinda like it when you spontaneously go into song like that. It's cute."

"Thank you."

The silence that fell wasn't uncomfortable. It was the silence that lies between two people trying to gauge each other out, the silence of two people who were getting comfy with each other.

"So, how did you find out about your powers?"

Santana snapped her head towards Rachel, surprise etched across her face. She gave a small smile after a while and looked down at her hands as she spoke.

"Brittany, Quinn and I were all in the same high school together. We went to Cincinnati High. One day I woke up with black feathers all over my body. I sneezed and I turned into a white cat. I sneezed again and I turned into a dog. Every time I sneezed I went from one form to another until eventually I settled for my own. Then Brittany started getting a lot of attention, and Quinn too, from guys and girls that they both liked. After about a month of all this, Puck showed up at my place, Kurt at Brittany's and Sam at Quinn's. Two days later we were here."

"What about you and Brittany?"

Santana seemed taken aback by the question, having been so riled up in her own story about her past. She got up from the grass and shuffled her feet, thoughtfully assessing her words before she would say anything.

"When we were sixteen, the three of us were called The Unholy Trinity. We did everything together. We went as far as taking the same classes, and one time we were in Literature class because Quinn wanted to take something intellectual, and we were reading up this poem by this guy named Edgar Allan Poe. And the poem was beautiful, about this guy who loved his girl so much that even after she died, he never let her go and slept by her grave every night. _Mucho_ creepy, yeah, but sweet.

"So that day I went up to Brittany and was all like 'We've been hooking up for months now and I just really like you. Can we please just go out now?' and she said 'Santana Lopez, if you want me to go out with you, you have to woe me!'." She stopped and laughed, turning her head to look at the sky, her eyes giving off an emotion Rachel wasn't yet very familiar with. A deep, timeless emotion.

"So I went back to my locker, grabbed the book with all the poems in it, and went running back to her. I opened the book, looked at the poem, found my favourite lines, knelt down on one knee and went…"

Here she paused, closed her eyes, opened her arms wide, and laughed.

"I said 'For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee, and the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee, and so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride!'"

She fell back onto the grass next to Rachel, rolled over onto her side and grinned at her. "And I won her over."

"That's so…sweet."

"Thanks! Now, for the important question, what about you and Quinn?"

Rachel's turn to freeze now, as she swallowed a gulp and tried her best to seem unfazed by the question. Really though, her heart was pounding at the thought of the blonde girl, at the memory of her lips pressing against her own, her skin tingling as she relived how Quinn's hands had felt roaming over her body…

"I'm confused."

"What's there to be confused about? Quinn's hot and she's into you. Unless you're not into girls…" Santana reasoned, and Rachel had to give her credit. The statement was quite plausible. It was just…

"I never had a girlfriend before, and to be honest most boys never really like me, so I've never even had a proper romantic relationship of any kind with anybody. And yes, I do admit Quinn's pretty. Prettiest girl I've ever met. And last night was…amazing, to say the least. My first kiss was long ago, but she was my first real make out session, so to speak, and it thoroughly enjoyed it-"

She heard fake snoring emitting from Santana's mouth and laughed. "I guess I'm rambling," she blushed, rubbing the back of her neck self consciously.

"Kinda. Just get to the point, alright?"

"Yeah. Well, in short, I don't know what to think about it. I've heard people at my old school say that stuff that happens at bars and clubs doesn't mean anything, that it's a one night thing. And I'm worried. What if this was one of those things? I don't want it to be like that. I…I like Quinn."

Santana's head perked up, almost like the dog Rachel knew she loved to transform into. She looked at her with a question in her eyes, a question she didn't seem to want to voice. Sighing, she awkwardly put a hand on Rachel's shoulder and squeezed. "I'm sure that…everything will be fine, Rachel. Alright?"

Rachel nodded and looked at the Latina thankfully, glad that she had found a friend in the otherwise bitchy girl. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Good. I don't want you going all soppy on me. Only Britt gets to do that!"

As soon as she said that, Santana felt a tugging in her chest, like that red string of fate that Tina had told her about a few months ago was working its magic on her. She felt as if it was pulling at her, calling her back to the bed Brittany was currently alone in, making her want to hug the blonde to her chest, sniff her scent and just murmur sweet Spanish nothings into her ear.

"I was going to ask you something else about your relationship with Brittany…"

"Sure, Berry, what's up?" Santana wasn't normally used to people asking so many questions about her relationship. They were normally too afraid of the angry brunette, or too distracted by the pheromones being given off by the blonde.

"You know Brittany's power, how it makes people want to be close to her and want to be her friend…"

"Mm…" Santana lay spread eagled on the grass, flexing her muscles and unflexing them, letting the sun warm her bones in its weak early morning glare. She felt a gentle six-legged creature settle on her nose and she smiled as she recognized the smell of a butterfly, and let it flutter its wings gently over her face before lifting off again.

She was not expecting Rachel's next question.

"Could it be that…maybe…Brittany is just making you like her with her powers?"

She shot up, the relaxation gone completely from her system, her eyes narrowed down to two angry slits.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if she's making you like her because she wants to be with you? What if you don't like her as much as you think you do? What if it's just her powers making you think you like her enough to be her girlfriend?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Santana shouted, leaping onto her feet and stomping her feet in distaste. "That is…completely absurd and rude and stupid and false and…"

She trailed off, her voice becoming small and her movements slower, sluggish, and weaker. "Brittany would never do that to me…"

But it suddenly made perfect sense.

Her interest in Brittany didn't spark until two weeks after Brittany's powers had emerged, and by that time the blonde claimed she had gained significant control over her ability and was limiting it only to people she was truly interested in and not to every other person she passed in the hallway. Could it be that her interest had only stemmed from the product of Brittany shooting her 'people magnetism' at her (as she lovingly called it).

"I…" she started to say, before deciding that no, Rachel didn't' really deserve an explanation. She shook her head rapidly, angrily, before transforming back into the dog and running off, as fast as she could, down the hill, past the dormitory, and into a small cave near the school. She buried her snout in her paws, curled up into a ball, and closed her eyes.

She was glad that dogs couldn't cry.


	7. Chapter 7

For hours she had lain in that hole near the school, contemplating every part of her relationship with the woman she claimed to love, the woman she almost got expelled over, the woman she would have done anything for. And now, now she knew that the only way to confirm her suspicions was to confront her.

It was a slam in the door that alerted everyone in Common Room 4 that somebody was angry. Everyone turned around to stare at the Latina, her face red, her eyes slits, her fists clenched, and her vision trained on one particular blonde.

"Lopez, what's-"

"Can it, Puckerman!" she growled at him, her voice more powerful than if it had been a scream. He stopped in his tracks and sat back down on the sofa, startled and scared. Santana looked at the group quickly, letting her eyes leave Brittany.

Mercedes, Quinn, Tina, Mike, Artie, Sam, Finn, Puck, and Blaine. And her.

Witnesses, the lot of them.

"You lied to me," she snapped at the blonde as she saw her get up. Brittany froze, her eyes widening and her arms half way into embracing the angry brunette.

"About what, honey?"

"Everything!" This time, it was a scream. An ear shattering, heart piercing scream that shocked everyone to their core. "You've been using your powers on me all along, making me love you! You made me love you…you…" her voice drifted off into a whisper as she backed into the wall, covering her face with her hair and letting the steaming tears fall onto her boots.

"Santana, I never made you love me. You know that! You know you love me…" Brittany tried to reason, calmly walking forward, holding her palms out as if she was approaching an angry animal.

"Don't. Lie."

"I'm not!" Brittany swiveled her eyes over everyone in the room. "Do I look like I'm lying? You guys know I'm not lying! You…you all know that, right?"

"Brittany." Santana's voice was laced with ice and poison, malice and hurt. "Look me straight in the eyes and tell me that you've never, ever, used your power on me."

Brittany stared at Santana for ten eternally long seconds before she spoke again. "I never…" at that moment, her eyes moved away from Santana's, and stared down at her shoes.

That was answer enough for Santana, who turned on her heel and started to walk towards the door.

"I've been living a lie. I'm through with you, Brittany. We're through." She opened the door and found a bewildered Rachel, who had come over when she heard the shouting. Santana avoided looking at her, instead spoke to the space above her head when she said, "You and I are switching beds. I'm not sleeping next to Brittany anymore." And she left the room, closely followed by Puck, shouting her name after her.

As soon as she was out of the room, Santana let the tears she had built in her all day started to fall more freely. Puck ran after her, trying his best to calm her down, to get a coherent sentence out of her. But she just kept muttering brokenly in Spanish and English. He finally caught up with her, twisting her around to look at him, putting his hands on her shoulders and grounding her, forcing her to stop moving. "Santana, what's come over you?"

"She lied to me, Noah! She lied to me and everything I've ever known about our relationship is fake! She used her powers on me, she used them to make me fall in love with her and…and…."

She fell against his chest, her own heaving and sobs racking her body. She pounded his chest with her fists, and his tattooed arms wrapped around her and held her close, letting her let it all out. That was the most he could do, he figured. Just be her support, her rock…

"Hello, Puck, Santana."

They both turned around, staring at James as he twirled a coin over his knuckles, making it disappear and reappear in his palm. Flick, flick, twist, turn, flick, flick, twist, turn.

"I couldn't help but overhear. We have a proposal for you."

"You're a demon summoner, Puck. How many of your kind are there? Ten, maybe fifteen in all of the country. Possibly more in the rest of the world. But they're all bad 'uns. Every. Single. One of them."

"And your point is, Grayson?"

"You're destined to be evil. And you, Santana, you were never really one of the good ones in the first place! Remember what they all told you on your first day here? The Professor, the Doctor and the Madame all looked at you and said you would leave here and do a lot of harm to the world. Three out of our five leaders don't have faith in you. So why try be a good one, when they've already established you're going to turn out as evil as the rest of us?"

"I want to prove them wrong!"

"Really? I know you Santana."

"Oh really, Grayson?"

"Yes, really. I've known you since Day One. I started off a week before you at this place, you know. I know everything about you, I saw you grow. And I know that you're dark, you're sinister, you're powerful. You're everything a villain should be. And you and Noah both, you're meant to be with us."

Silence.

"I'm in. Santana?"

"I'm in. Nothing to lose no more."

Rachel walked into her room and noticed that Santana had already made short work of the beds and moved to the one by the window. She was actually already in it, wrapped up in a black t-shirt and grey pajama bottoms, her back to the door and her shoulders shaking. Rachel noted how the one hand she could see was wrapped up in a bandage, almost something from out of Fight Night, and that blood was slowly coloring it. Had she gotten into a fight already? Or had she simply punched a wall or a tree in rage and heartbreak and injured herself in the process?

"Santana?" she whispered. She was alone in the room with the girl, and almost afraid to speak to her.

"Leave me alone," a muffled voice spoke out, and Rachel did as she was told, changing into her pajamas quickly and crawling onto her new bed. She closed her eyes, willing sleep to come quickly. She had tired herself out today, trying to understand what had happened to Santana and Brittany, and thinking about her own relationship with Quinn fervently. Quite frankly, she needed sleep to come.

She was sure that she heard Santana crying, and she knew that at a point Tina and Brittany walked in, talking in hushed tones. Tina settled into her own bed, and Rachel opened her eyes when she didn't hear Brittany get onto hers. She saw the blonde just standing at the door, staring confusedly at the space where Santana would usually sleep. She looked at Rachel, then at the Latina, then back at the bed, and then just sank to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and trying hard to cover up the sobs. Unsuccessfully, though, she started to hiccup.

Rachel slid out of her own bed and walked over to Brittany, who seemed to refuse to look at her. She rocked back and forth, heaving in giant gasps of air to keep herself under control. Rachel had no idea what to do, so she just put a hand on her back and rubbed circles, trying to soothe her.

"Two years, Rachel…two years…she…she can't do this to me…" her voice came to Rachel's ears, barely a whisper, barely loud enough for anyone but the diva to hear. "I don't want to sleep alone tonight…"

"If you're talking about sexual matters, I'm afraid I can't help you with that."

"No, Rach. I just don't like an empty bed." She looked up at the petite little creature before her, and for some reason she had never felt smaller.

"Can you sleep with me tonight? In my bed?"

"Of course."

Rachel helped Brittany get up and change, and as the two of them tugged the covers over their bodies, Rachel felt Brittany begin to shake again as she started to cry.

And all Rachel could do was hold her to her, and hope that she could make things better in the morning.

On the other side of the room, Santana clenched and unclenched her fists again and again, whimpering in pain and flicking her tongue at the blood oozing out from the bandage, hoping it would stop. It had been a moment of weakness, she had punched James, who had pushed her into a wall. She had hit her head pretty badly, and when she tried to get back up, she had punched the wall in protest, opening up a fresh new scar on her knuckles.

Brittany was always the only one to make her feel better with her good vibes. Always. Even when she didn't want to, Brittany was releasing positive energy all the time. Santana's animal senses smelled it every time. She couldn't remember a day she hadn't slept in the same room as the blonde and never felt the energy floating around the room.

Today was the first time in years that Brittany wasn't even trying.


	8. Chapter 8

Rachel didn't think that the sadness levels in her room would go any higher. But somehow, they did. Both Santana and Brittany seemed to wallow in self pity and cry themselves to sleep every night. Tina and Rachel found themselves alternating to sleep in Brittany's bed. It was either that, or they would just feel guilty for the rest of the night. During the day, Brittany would cuddle up to somebody, anybody, who was willing. She even sat on Artie's lap once while he wheeled them around. Sam went as far as actually letting her ride on his back while he did his daily three rounds around the perimeter of the school in hopes of cheering her up.

During the day, Santana would transform into whatever animal she felt like that day, and go off with Puck, who was avoiding them just as much lately. The whole group seemed to feel their loss, and everything felt thrown off.

Rachel had never realized how dependent and tightly woven the group was together, until they lost two of their members.

They were almost like a family…

That's when Rachel found herself a new friend in one of the most unexpected places.

"Hello, Rachel." She looked up from her seat at her desk in her empty Control classroom and smiled at Grayson.

"Yes?" She had figured that the best way to act towards these people was as passively as possible in hopes that they wouldn't attack her or provoke her.

"How's everything going?" he asked gently, leaning against her desk and giving her a very charming smile. "I heard that Santana and Puck won't speak to you guys anymore…"

She sniffed sadly and looked down at the desk, shuffling in her seat in an attempt to get up. "It's weird. It's an effort to get Brittany out of bed every morning and with her so sad, everyone else just seems to be sad too. And Santana just won't talk to us anymore, and I share a room with her! She absolutely refuses to look anyone in the eye, really, and just goes off with Noah every day. I see her in Group sometimes but she doesn't work as well as she used to with us anymore. Just kind of…she's there. But not there."

Grayson nodded his understanding and helped her up, walking with her towards the outside. "Well, I suggest you be patient. Santana, I've known her ever since she came to the school. I've been here just as long as she has, we arrived in the same month. I was this awkwardly gangly guy trying to find control of my powers and failing miserably. She was this really angry kid with a girlfriend and nobody dared talk to her. I think she's forgotten by now, but the first person she talked to outside of her little trio bubble, was me. Of course that was before Ivy arrived…"

"What's the history between Ivy and Santana anyways?" Rachel asked, having been battling her curiosity for weeks now. Grayson looked around, seemingly not hearing her, before finding a bench right underneath a tree, with a good balance of shade and sunlight. He sat down and motioned for Rachel to join him. She did, sitting timidly on one side of the bench while he sat on another. He rubbed his hands together, creating a small breeze to blow through their hair and cool their foreheads from the unexpected heat wave that day.

"Well, Ivy arrived about a month after Santana did. By that time she was already the HBIC. She had everyone in the school hanging on her every word, and everyone was scared shitless of her. And then when Ivy showed up, Santana lost a little bit of her spark. They actually had to share a room for the first two weeks that Ivy was here. Santana wasn't happy. By that time everyone knew not to mess with Brittany or they'd feel her wrath. Ivy didn't seem to care, really.

"At first, Ivy flirted a lot with Santana, and it was rumored that they actually once sexy-tackled during a test. I wasn't there, but any Shapeshifter will tell you that the two of them actually stayed in human form all the while, and were painfully close to each other. The next day, they had a face off somewhere over…there…" he pointed out, West, indicating a large rock on campus. "There, by that rock, they had the throw down of the year. Santana almost got killed, Ivy was way too strong and almost ripped her neck out. Stronger than her, already. Santana felt threatened by Ivy, all the time, now it was confirmed. The only person a shapeshifter can ever really be scared of is another shapeshifter, after all. And whenever Ivy and Santana were in the same room after that, Santana would just kind of cower away, like this scared little rabbit. Ivy actually took full advantage of that, you know. She would corner her, like pin her to a wall, and go…"

He cleared his throat and started to speak in a voice Rachel thought was actually very close to Ivy's. "Lopez, I own you. You know that." Grayson laughed and threw his head back, staring up at the leaves. "I was there a few times for when Ivy did that. She was pretty scary when she did that, and once or twice she'd actually like…tease, Santana. Like, actually tease her with a lick on her cheek, or a hiss in her ear. I think once there was this thing where she almost got her hand under Santana's skirt. But, Lopez, she's strong. She never really broke, not once. And, Ivy got fed up."

He shrugged and looked at Rachel, square in the eyes. "But then…" he looked around conspiratorially, almost as if he was afraid he shouldn't be speaking about this in the open air. Nobody in the area seemed to be paying attention to them, so he smiled to himself and went back to retelling the story.

"Brittany and Santana went back to being the It Couple, and everyone went back to respecting them. Ivy got kicked out of the room and sent to another, and Tina took her place. Around this time, Mike came into the story too. Anyways, Brittany and Santana were going strong, quite cute I must admit. And about two months after Ivy gave up, she found Brittany alone once at a table, studying. She went up behind her and said something to her that was clearly intended to try and get Brittany to sleep with her. Brittany tried to shake her off, but she was way too weak for her.

"Ivy actually didn't count on Santana being near. Next thing she knew, Santana had appeared on the table and pounced on her. She was like, half panther half Latina. Clawing and growling and biting. It took eight of the strongest guys to get her off Ivy, and by that time she had already lost her fingers…"

"So that's what happened…"

Grayson nodded and flicked his wrist, levitating a leaf at the foot of the bench up and making it dance delicately around his head. "Now you know."

"And you're…one of Ivy's confidants, right?"

"You can say that. To be honest, I think she's way too drastic sometimes. She's a friend, but I don't trust her with my life." He turned his eyes to her, and she noticed how they were a beautiful stormy grey, swirling with an emotion she couldn't read.

"I have to go. My brother's waiting for me in the room. I promised we'd study together. I'll see you around." He got up and came to stand before her, leaning down and planting a soft, feathery kiss on her forehead. "Take care of yourself."

"Blaine!" Quinn shouted out, rubbing at her temples. "Seriously, dude, I've had it up to here with Maroon 5 and Jagger!"

"But it's so catchy!" the offender mumbled sadly, stopping his whistling. "It's like…song of the year!"

"It was a summer song. Guess what. It's Autumn!"

"Stop being so crabby, Quinnie!" he grinned, returning to his book. "I'll stop if you ask nicely…"

"Stop or I'll mentally suggest that you lose your ability to sing. Please?"

"Deal!"

Rachel, Quinn, and Blaine were seated comfortably in Common Room 6 that evening, relaxing a bit. Kurt was seated next to Blaine, whistling to his canary Pavarotti II (that was a story they had yet to tell her), Sam and Mercedes were sprawled on the rug, speaking in whispers and playing with each other's hands. Tina and Mike were practicing their Mandarin skills in the corner, and Puck and Artie were busy playing with their PSPs on some sort of Mario game.

Rachel and Quinn had occupied the chess table, and so far, Rachel was winning. Quinn looked clearly frustrated, and trying really hard not to use her powers to try and get the other girl to lose. This was the only real contact they had had with each other since the club, and Rachel was glad it didn't really feel that awkward yet.

"So, Rachel…" she looked up at Mercedes as the black girl continued to speak. "you haven't had a Diva Off yet, have you?"

"Well, I have participated in Diva Off's countless times in my old school with the other Glee club members, and it was quite fun. We always did songs that I wanted to do though, Broadway songs, so that the true energy of the diva could come out. I've done RENT, Wicked, Phantom, and even Little Shop of Horrors at a point!"

Kurt's interest seemed piqued, and he stared at Rachel defiantly. "Well…how about we see what you're made of, then."

He got up off the couch, handing Pavarotti II to Blaine, who caught the bird in his hands and stroked its feathers lovingly. Rachel got off her seat, ignoring Quinn's protests, and stood face to face with the porcelain-faced boy.

"Close, every door, to me…" he started, softly, melodically. Rachel recognized the song immediately, noting it quickly in her mind. 'Close Every Door' from 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Easy.

"Hide all, the world from me…"

She took in her breath, knowing that this song was going to be a battle of breath and pitch. "Bar all the windows and shut out the light…" she interrupted. He seemed taken aback and took a step closer towards her, and she suddenly realized just how short she really was.

"Do what you want with me, hate me and laugh at me. Darken my daytime and torture my night!"

Rachel noted how he was actually putting emphasis on the wrongs words, knowing full well that this song's power wouldn't pick up until after the first refrain.

"If my life were important I would ask, will I live or die? But I know the answers lie far from this world…" she retaliated, still singing softly, barely a whisper, but strong enough to fill the room and gain everyone's attention.

"Close every door to me…"

"Keep those I love from me…"

"Children of Israel are never alone!"

"For I know I shall find…"

"MY own piece of mind…"

"For I have been promised a land of my o-o-own…" she grinned at him, noticing how everyone's eyes were trained at her in admiration. She knew she wasn't using her power, and neither was Kurt, so this time, she was definitely wowing them through sheer talent.

Kurt jumped up onto a chair and spread his arms out, trying to give power to his voice. "Just give me a number instead of my name. Forget all about me and let me decay!" he shouted angrily, trying to best Rachel.

She knew she had this in the bag.

"I do not matter," she said, coming to the foot of his chair and looking up at him, trying her best to look as sad as the song implied. "I'm only one person. Destroy me completely then throw me away…"

Kurt got off the chair, singing at her, his voice lowering down. "If my life were important I would ask, will I live or die?" he smiled at her, giving her his hand. She took it and belted out the last few notes with him, the song finally reaching its power and pinnacle.

"But I know the answers lie far from this world! Close every door to me, hide all the world from me, Children of Israel are never alone! For I know I shall find my own peace of mind…" Their voices became whispers again together, both smiling at each other as they rounded off. "For we have been promised a land of our own…"

The room erupted into applause, and Kurt released her hand quickly, almost as if she was plague ridden.

"You're good, Berry. Better than I thought you would be. But be warned, I will get better!"

"I won't hold my breath," she snapped without thinking, hearing a collective 'oh!' of surprise from the group and an 'oh SNAP!' from Blaine.

"Where you always this obnoxious before?" Quinn asked her, causing Rachel to blush at the harshness of the tone.

"I'm working on it…"

Puck stroked the silky soft fur on the black dog lying at his feet and smiled at it, hoping to reassure it.

"Everything's gonna be fine, Santana. As your lesbro, I can assure you of that."

The dog whined and cuddled deeper into his hands, burying her snout into his palm. He didn't mind stroking Doggie Santana, it was really just his way of being there for his best friend.

"I promise you things will be fine…" he told her again, his voice carrying out into the night sky. Lights out hadn't come upon them yet, and they were sitting on the school roof together, just enjoying each other's company. He knew how tired and sad Santana was. He didn't want to deny her this little pleasure of feeling the night air on her fur too.

"Hey, San?"

A small whimper as a 'yes?'

"Can you like, transform into something smaller? I know you need a hug but it's a pain to hug a dog…"

Something that sounded suspiciously like a 'hmph' came from the dog's snout before a shimmer in the air appeared. Next second, the dog was a white rabbit, fluffy and with large droopy ears. Puck thought that the image was perfect for whatever Santana was feeling at the moment. He picked her up delicately with both hands, hoping he wouldn't hurt her, and pressed her to his chest, where he knew his heart was. He saw her close her eyes and lean into his touch, and he felt small tears prick at the corner of his eyes.

He hated seeing his normally strong best friend so vulnerable.

"It's gonna be OK…"

The rabbit shook in his touch and he gripped tighter afraid she would fall, and before he knew it the bunny had been replaced by a human, crying her eyes out onto his chest like she had done every night for the past week on that roof. He stroked her back and tucked her head beneath his chin, staring up at the starry night sky and hoping, for God's sake, he wouldn't cry right now.

"Shush, San, please…it's gonna be fine…"


	9. Chapter 9

Blaine turned to look at Artie and grinned at him, handing him a five dollar bill. "Thanks for helping us out, dude."

"No problem. Just call me as soon as you're near the school again and I'll disable the security system so you can get back in undetected."

"Will do." Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and dragged him into the street, and to his car in the parking lot.

"I still don't understand why you have to celebrate this day with such vigor, Blaine…" Kurt mumbled, cuddling up into his jacket. Blaine shrugged and opened the door for his boyfriend, making sure he was safe and cosy before joining him in the car.

"Today is our two year anniversary, Kurt. I want to celebrate! It's like, the best day of my life!" he turned to look Kurt in the eyes and grabbed his hand, reaching it up to his lips. "I met you."

Kurt blushed heavily, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. "Blaine, I-"

"Shush, tonight, I'm gonna be the perfect gentleman. My brother's restaurant down in the town is gonna let us stay there for a few hours for free, eat out, have a proper dinner. I even got one of those private rooms at the back, the ones where we're given the total special silver service and all that. It's gonna be great!"

* * *

><p>Tina and Mike sat in Common Room 1, their hands clutched around mugs of hot chocolate, their feet tucked firmly under the same blanket. Adamo had gone on a huge rant that day, and covered the entire school in frost and cold. He'd made sure that everybody knew he was the one in charge, and wouldn't lift the cold until the teachers met his demands. He was always an asshole that way…<p>

"Mike?"

"Mm?"

"When you think of the future…"

Mike looked at her questioningly, curling an arm around her waist and bringing her closer to him. "Yes?"

"Do you think of us?"

"In the future? Definitely! Honey, I've built my future completely around you!" Giving her a toothy grin, he cocked her chin up with one finger and made her look him in the eyes. "To me, the future is filled with the both of us being together, getting married, having kids, running around the world to look at all the awesome stuff we haven't seen yet being stuck here in Ohio, settling down in Paris or Venice or Rome…"

"So, you don't think we'll make it to become Heroes?"

"I don't think so…" he reluctantly admitted, resting his chin on her shoulder and giving out a long, deep sigh. "I'm not Hero material. I mean…look at me! My power isn't exactly the best around. You know who is Hero material? Finn, or maybe Santana, or – hell – even Blaine! They'd make awesome Heroes! But us…face it, Tina…we're not exactly meant to be amongst The Greats."

Tina looked down morosely at her hot chocolate, blowing the steam issuing from it away with her own breath. "I like thinking we have a chance…"

"It would be pretty cool, won't it?"

"Well, don't forget," Tina sat up straighter, smiling brightly at her boyfriend and leaning close to him, whispering secretively, "when they look for people to send as Heroes, they always look at people's good intentions. And we have plenty of those." She leaned back into the sofa and sipped at her drink. "You know Mike, I think we actually have a pretty good chance…"

* * *

><p>"Rachel?" she heard as she ran over the treadmill. It was technically still not lights out yet, which meant the gym was available for anybody. But she was the only one still using any equipment. She didn't mind though, she loved the quiet, just the sound of her breathing echoing over to her, the beat of her feet against the machine, the pounding of her heart in her ears.<p>

Running helped to rid herself of thoughts of Quinn. So it wasn't very useful when that same blonde walked into the room and tried to talk to her.

"What is it, Quinn?" she panted, switching off the machine and stepping off it. "I'm trying to get a little training done."

"I know, I just…can we talk?"

"Depends. Do I want to listen to what you have to say?" Rachel hated being this snarky and snappy with anyone, really, but she couldn't help it. Quinn had been avoiding talking about the kiss for a week, and now…it felt like it was too late.

Also she was tired. Running made her very tired sometimes.

"I just want to ask you what you think. About…you know. The kiss?"

Rachel stopped and turned to face the blonde, dabbing a towel softly at her forehead. "You mean the one at the club?"

"We haven't kissed any other time apart from that, have we?"

Rachel looked at the floor, and stared for a few seconds, analyzing the situation. Quinn seemed genuinely concerned and actually looked like she wanted to talk like civilized human beings.

She sighed, and motioned to Quinn to join her sitting on a gym mat. "OK, let's talk."

* * *

><p>Blaine watched Kurt across the table examine the cutlery and plates and glasses. "You like?"<p>

"Yeah, it's actually pretty nice. And you're brother's sweet."

"He's accepting. And pretty cool. He was at St Clementine's too, you know. Graduated about five years ago. He started up this restaurant after there and, viola, he's one of the best restaurants in town!"

"What is your brother's power anyways?"

Blaine grinned and crossed his legs under the table. "He has the uncanny ability to be able to know exactly what a person needs, when he needs it. It's sort of like Empathy only…deeper. More complex. But not as complex as mind reading. I forgot the official term for it, but that's what helped him start the restaurant. Everyone brags that he always knows what the customers want to eat, before they order themselves, just because of his power. It's what's gotten him so far. And his employees love him because he's always nice to them. Giving them the day off when they need it, or letting them work more hours when he knows they need more money, or a raise in that case."

"Your brother sounds like a nice guy…"

"He was offered a Hero-Ship, but he turned it down."

Kurt gagged on the little sip of water he had taken in and stared wide eyed at Blaine. The other boy actually thought it looked cute.

"Why would someone turn down the chance to be a Hero?"

Blaine shrugged. "He wasn't up for it. He decided he wanted to be there for me more than for other people. And so he was there, protecting me instead of protecting the world." Blaine gazed down at his own glass filled with water with half-lidded eyes, his brain overflowing with memories. "I love my brother."

"Good to know!"

The two boys turned to stare at the man in the doorway, who had taken a position leaning against the doorframe. He grinned at Blaine and Kurt immediately saw the resemblance. Same brown eyes, same chin, same smile. This man had brown hair though, and a darker colour to his skin. He turned his gaze to Kurt and pointed his finger lazily at him, closing one eye as if he was looking at a very far away version of the baby-faced boy.

"You're in the mood for veal in white sauce and mushrooms, a side salad, and a large Pepsi. Dessert is a slice of Death by Chocolate and…oh." He started to blush heavily as he entered the part of his brain (Kurt was sure) hid his secret sexual desires. He shook his head and turned to look at Blaine. "Urm…chicken and mushroom pie, side plate of fries and baby carrots, large Sprite. And nocciola ice cream for dessert. Right?"

Both boys nodded. He nodded back and backed out into the restaurant, calling out to his waiters to start getting the food ready.

"Sometimes," Blaine laughed, grabbing Kurt's hand across the table, "my brother's a little too good at what he does."

Kurt laughed and leaned forward into a kiss, prompting Blaine to do the same. "I love you."

"Same here…happy anniversary."

* * *

><p>It was by some sort of weird compulsion that Mike and Tina found themselves sneaking into the library with her powers, and looking through the files on what it took to become a Hero, and all the other Heroes before them. The library archives held records for all students to see. Some where there to intimidate, others were there to inspire.<p>

"So far all I've got is a sheet of people who gave up Hero-Ship, which is like the stupidest thing ever…and a list of Shapeshifting Heroes. Almost every Shapeshifter in the past ten years made it to become a Hero…that's pretty scary. Who would want a bunch of people who can change shape at will to protect them? They'd be infinite trouble!"

"Look!" Tina called out a few book shelves down, holding out an old dusty tome. "This one's got every single one of them all together. 'The Book'. Really?…They couldn't think of a more original name?"

"What would you have called it?" Mike asked, leaving the papers behind and walking towards her.

"…The Tome. Sounds way more myserious."

"Yeah, sure. So, let's see. Look up Animus Heroes."

* * *

><p>"Quinn, I don't want to listen to this anymore."<p>

"Rachel, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way!"

"Quinn, stop speaking!"

"No!" Quinn cried out, grabbing Rachel's arm and twisting her around to stop her from walking away. "Listen to me, OK? That kiss meant something, alright? It really did! You're different from the other girls and I want you to know that. But right now…I don't know. Seeing Brittany and Santana break up, I don't want that hurt to happen to me. I can't stand it if it would. So…I'm just…"

"You're not ready for this yet, are you?"

Quinn shook her head, devastation coloring her face. Rachel knew she was being sincere, that she wasn't lying for her own sake. So it was with great enthusiasm that she reached up and captured Quinn's lips in her own, locking her hands behind the taller girl's neck and pulling her deeper.

Quinn kissed back, her hands locked on Rachel's back. Their noses bumped awkwardly at first but it was OK, the moment didn't become less heated, less romantic. One of Quinn's hands moved up to cup Rachel's cheek, and she broke the kiss to stare at the girl.

"Rach…"

"I know, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I…"

"Don't. It's OK. But…I need time to think things through."

Rachel nodded and let Quinn go, sliding her hands softly away from the blonde's skin.

"OK."

"I'll…I'll see you around…" And with that she spun on her heel and started to walk to the door. Half way out of the frame, she turned around and smiled at Rachel, pointing at her own wrist.

"Lights out in fifteen minutes. Better go brush your teeth, songbird."

And then she was gone.

* * *

><p>The red car sat in the parking lot of St Clementine's, soft Italian music drifting through the speakers. In the back seat, two bodies intertwined delicately as Blaine ran his fingers down Kurt's taut body, feeling his muscles tense beneath him.<p>

"Kurt, you sure about this?"

"Artie can wait," Kurt breathed out, pulling Blaine down to kiss him. "Besides, it's been two years. I'm sure about us, Blaine. I really am."

Blaine grinned and continued to kiss the other boy hungrily, adjusting him on the back seat in a way that they'd both be comfortable.

"I love you, Kurt…"

* * *

><p>"We've been through every page of that book and there's so far been no mention at all of any Animus or Stretchers ever being Heroes!" Mike ranted in heated whispers as they walked to their rooms. "I mean, are we really not that good?"<p>

Tina shook her head and hugged him, stopping his annoyance dead in its tracks.

"We'll be the first. I promise."

* * *

><p>Under the covers of Brittany's bed, hugging the girl to her as she slept, Rachel found herself smiling like an idiot. For once, the negative energy and sadness in the air didn't seem to dampen her mood.<p>

Because Quinn had called her 'songbird'…


	10. Chapter 10

"…so we pretty much don't graduate until we turn nineteen, right?"

"Well," Sam answered Rachel, sipping at his coffee and running a hand through his hair, "the Doctor said that by nineteen we'll have matured enough to be able to actually have full control of our powers. So no, graduation isn't until nineteen."

"So we have another year here?"

"That's right."

Rachel groaned and cradled her forehead in her hands, propping her elbows onto the table they were seated on inside, due to the snow relentlessly falling in the courtyard. "I thought I would be rid of school this year…"

"Yeah, well…" Sam shrugged and wrapped the scarf tighter around his neck. "We're not normal enough to finish school with all the other people in this world. But I don't mind. I like being a hero."

"You're not a Hero yet, Sam."

"I will be. One day."

Rachel looked up to smile at him and his enthusiastic features and how he just seemed to know that everything would be fine for him. She felt her friends join them and sit next to them, and turned her eyes to look at them. Finn squeezed in next to her, Quinn sat opposite her, Mercedes next to Sam, Artie at the edge of the table next to Tina, Mike opposite his girlfriend, Kurt and Blaine next to Quinn. Every one of them had clasped firmly in their hands a bowl of tomato soup and a bread roll, and Finn handed Rachel the extra bowl he had.

"For you."

"Thanks."

She looked around the canteen and smiled to herself. The teachers didn't feel it necessary to sit and eat with their students normally, opting to stay in the staff room. The teachers were of all ages and social groups, all with powers of their own. They were a pretty impressive bunch, and actually very understanding of their students. Rachel's favourite was Margaret Bocelli, who had no relation to the Italian singer, but was a wonderful Siren to work with.

Today of course, was no exception, as the teachers weren't there when chaos struck.

Nobody saw it coming when Santana pounced onto their table and stared Finn right in the eyes, crouching down low over his plate, her face inches from his own. Her canines had grown to extraordinary lengths, almost scarily long, and she was baring them with a wicked smirk on her face.

"Hey there, Finnocence."

"Santana, what are you doing?" he growled at her, breathless. She shrugged and used her arms to sommersault over his head and land on her feet with feline grace behind him.

"Just gauging you guys out. Not so tough without us, are you?"

"Santana, why are you being such a bitch?" Kurt asked, biting hard into his piece of bread. She shrugged again, and was joined by Puck at her elbow, who was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Hey there, wimps."

"Noah, leave," Quinn shot out, getting up and pointing to the door. "You too, Lopez. We don't know what's gotten over you guys lately, but it has to stop and it has to stop now."

"No can do, Fabray," another voice sounded out. The whole cafeteria had turned by now giving their full attention to the scene playing before them. Ivy and her crones joined Santana and Puck, who nodded greetings in their direction. Horatio and Grayson looked like they would much rather be doing something else, but it didn't stop Horatio from waving his arm over his head, causing the lights to flicked uncontrollably.

"You better get ready for the face off of a lifetime…" James laughed, cracking his knuckles menacingly in Rachel's ears as he leaned over her, stinking of sweat and cigarettes. She gagged uncontrollably, and would almost have lashed out had it not been for Brittany interrupting.

"What's going on, guys?"

The two opposing groups turned to look at her, a pale distraught shell of her former self. She was clutching a mug of coffee tightly to her chest, and when she noticed how James was threatening Rachel, or how Ivy was staring distastefully at her, she suddenly knew.

But when she turned her eyes to Santana, every muscle in her body seemed to relax, and she dropped the mug to a pool of ceramic and brown warm liquid to the floor.

"Well, look what we got here. Fresh. Meat." Ivy pounced forward and stood directly in front of Brittany, staring her right in the eyes and blocking her view of everyone else. "So, Brittany, surprised to see us?"

"B-back off."

"You were never much of a fighter anyways."

"I'm serious Ivy…"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" The girl extended her index finger, bringing it slowly up to Brittany's face and touched her on the forehead, poking her, hard.

"I can touch you, Britt. And you can't do anything about-"

She never finished that sentence, as a slap caught her mid way.

Everyone was shocked to see Santana deliver the slap. She was holding Ivy by the collar of her shirt, her hand hovering a few inches away from her cheek.

"Do not make me do that again. We had a deal, alright? You don't touch Brittany. You never touch Brittany. You keep your end of the deal, I keep mine."

Ivy growled before twisting her way out of Santana's hold and spitting at her feet before walking away, the rest of the group in tow. Santana stared at Brittany, her brown eyes boring into grey, before she sighed and walked off too, hands shoved deep into her pockets and head hanging.

* * *

><p>"Well…that was weird."<p>

"Shut up, Rachel," Quinn mumbled, her back pressed firmly against the tiny brunette's. They had occupied the empty common room, lit the fireplace and sat in front of it, enjoying the quiet because it would let them do some reading, but so far they weren't really managing.

"But don't you agree? I thought Santana didn't love Brittany anymore. And now…there she was defending her."

"You don't just stop loving someone, Rachel. It takes time."

"But if the emotions were fake I'm sure they would have died down by now, wouldn't they?"

Quinn blinked. She had a point.

"I dunno…"

"Do you think those two really love each other?"

"I think they do, yeah. Santana's just being an idiot and not admitting it."

Rachel turned the page of her book and nodded. "I agree. It's not healthy to suppress feelings like that. Speaking of which…" Quinn groaned, putting her own book down and feeling Rachel turning around to rest her chin on Quinn's shoulder. "Am I forgiven over the kiss last time?"

"Yes, of course!"

"So it would be highly inappropriate if I kissed you right now?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, it would."

Rachel pouted, moving her lips up to Quinn's ear and crooning into it.

"When are you going to let me in, Quinn?"

Quinn shook her head. "I'm not ready for this, Rachel. Please. Just…just a little bit longer."

Rachel nuzzled her nose into the back of Quinn's ear and breathed out. "OK…I'll wait. But only because it's you."

Next thing she knew, Quinn was pining her down on the carpet, her faces millimeters away from hers.

"You fucking temptress."

"I try my best," Rachel laughed, craning her head up to meet Quinn's lips with her own. Quinn kissed her softly, almost as if she was trying to savor the moment. When she pulled away, it was reluctantly and Rachel knew it.

"Rach, please, I really do need time to think."

Rachel sighed and slid out from underneath the blonde.

"OK. Really, I get you. I'll stop." She gathered the book and left the room, smiling a goodnight in Quinn's direction before she closed the door. Quinn slammed her fist down to the ground and winced as the pain shot up her wrist.

Rachel Berry was not going to be the one who got away from her. She was sure of that.

* * *

><p>Brittany hated knowing that people were upset in any way.<p>

She hated it even more when she knew that the person upset was her own Santana.

Her Santana. Even when they weren't talking, even when they weren't having any contact whatsoever, Santana was hers. Still was hers. Santana could never be anybody else's, it was a known fact. Everybody at the school knew that it was her and Santana and nobody else.

So why weren't they still together? It still didn't make any sense to her at all…

She had only used her powers on Santana once, very unintentionally, way before she knew what they were, about a year before anything happened. They were alone in the brunette's room, going over some verbs for Spanish, and she had locked her eyes with Santana's and just…stared.

She had felt an adrenaline rush start somewhere in her gut and travel up to her brain. She suddenly felt as if every pore in her body was excreting some sort of…scent? That was the only accurate word. And then Santana's eyes had glazed over, her jaw had gone slack, she was staring at Brittany with an intensity she only saw when boys stared.

"Santana?" she had asked. The other girl shook her head, breaking the spell and the adrenaline rush, and then everything was over before it began.

Brittany was sure that the effect had never been lasting. Santana never really paid attention to her again until two weeks later, when Brittany was complaining about rough boys were _during_, and Santana had got up off the floor where she was lying, plopped herself on the bed next to Brittany and proceeded to kiss her. Brittany hadn't pushed her away, hadn't tried to stop her. She let the Latina's hands roam over her body, she let her explore every inch of her, and that first night was their first real hook up.

Over the years they started to do it more. Whenever one of them was bored of the boys, or just stressed and tensed, somehow everything always led to them having sex. Brittany never minded, she loved being so close to her best friend. And Santana always treated her in a way the guys didn't, much more caring and loving.

It was only until a year later that Santana finally confessed that she loved her. And Brittany had to admit that, yes, she was in love with her best friend too.

But, what if Santana's love for her had started because of that accidental brush with her? But then…if there was one thing Brittany knew, is that Santana was very animal-like, and that her powers didn't work on animals…

"Britt, are you asleep?" Tina asked as she entered the room and found a very wide awake blonde and a fast asleep dog on different sides of the room.

"No."

"Are you OK?"

Brittany nodded and Tina quickly changed into her overly baggy William McKinley High shirt (Mike's old football shirt) before crawling into bed with her.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Just hoping Santana comes around soon."

Tina squeezed Brittany's shoulders and smiled sadly. "She will, Britt. She will…"


	11. Chapter 11

On crisp, beautiful days like these (that were becoming exceedingly rare nowadays thanks to Adamo) Sam would wake up early, tread out of his room without waking up Puck or Finn, put on a very comfortable set of clothes, his aviator goggles (that had been a present from his father who shared his Power), his black combat boots and a pair of fingerless gloves that kept him warm when he was flying. He stepped out onto the courtyard this morning, unfurling his wings proudly, and giving them two experimental flaps before crouching down on his knees and lifting off, soaring up and stopping short of the clouds, looking down over the campus, and giving a great big whoop before he began his circuits of the school.

He didn't see the shadow flit beneath him as it found shelter in the trees. He didn't hear the fire starting to crackle in the boy's palms, and he certainly didn't see it coming towards him.

But one minute into his daily circuit he was yelling out in pain as a ball of fire flew through his wings, tearing them apart. They started coming at him, pelting him relentlessly. He dodged as best as he could, trying to keep his balance with one intact wing. The other was searing, and he was in blind agony, until he felt more pain build up in the next wing.

Panicking, he used the last of his strength to fly faster, and realized too late that he was flying upward.

Before he knew it, the ground was gaining on him, and he had nothing to prevent the fall.

* * *

><p>The whole school that morning was woken up by a shrill shriek from the grounds. The girls in Rachel's room scrambled to the window, pushing and jolting each other to look outside.<p>

The first person to react was Rachel herself.

Lying in a pool of his own blood was Sam, his wings charred and black, and his limbs at angles that didn't seem natural at all. When the realization that he was dead hit her, Rachel's eyes suddenly watered.

"But…yesterday…he said he was going to become a Hero…" she said to her roommates, who looked at her with puzzled expressions. Santana snorted once before walking to her dresser and grabbing her outfit for the day, starting to change.

"You're not upset?" Tina asked her, already wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He was our friend, Santana!"

It was the first time somebody had uttered that name in the room in weeks.

Santana froze, half way to putting on a black t-shirt, her back to the other three girls. Brittany was staring at her, her eyes burning holes into the Latina's shoulders. After a few painful seconds of silence, Santana shrugged.

"I am sad. But I'm not gonna dwell on it. Sam wasn't the kind of guy who would want that from us."

And with that she left the room, never once glancing back.

* * *

><p>Every single Fire Monger in that school was taken to the largest classroom in the building, and soon, so was every single Mind Controller, including Quinn. One of the Fire Mongers confessed to waking up in the courtyard in his pajamas, with no idea of what had happened, and a boy hurtling to the ground a few feet away from him. A Mind Controller was suspended that day, on the pretext of being the one who had forced the Fire Monger to do so.<p>

It was at about four in the afternoon that the Evans family arrived at the school. Sam's father and mother were both blondes, both distraught beyond Quinn's understanding as she watched them cross the courtyard. She ran after them, hoping to catch up to them and talk to them. She noticed that they were entering the Office and walked away, deciding to wait in the courtyard until she saw them leave.

She spent thirty minutes sitting on the grass, watching the breeze flit through the grass and move the flowers. She ran her hand over the grass, smelling the dewy air and formulating plans in her mind. Everything lately was going so horribly wrong. She never dealt with a relationship with a girl like this. She always went slow, kissed them after the fifth encounter, cornered them and had sex with them when she was sure they were ready.

With Rachel, it was so much harder. She just couldn't resist. She felt the carnal lust eating away at her mind, making her want to jump Rachel every time, and yet…

She couldn't' do it, not with everyone in such a bad position. And she actually liked Rachel, really liked her. She couldn't destroy their relationship if she just cornered her now, and she didn't want to look at Rachel and think of a bad mess of a past. She wanted to look at her and think of beautiful memories, and hope to make so many more.

Look at her. She was falling in love.

And she had never even used her power on Rachel to begin with…

She heard people talking in low soft voices nearby and looked up, realizing that they were the Evans. She walked up to them and was about to shout out to stop them, when she saw Santana walking towards them from her right. She froze, watching the Latina rush up to them and prod Mr Evans in the shoulder. He turned, surprised, and she put her hand out. She saw her lips move, but couldn't hear anything. Mr and Mrs Evans nodded at her, smiling warmly, and shook her hand. She hung her head, still speaking, and then turned around and walked away, wiping furiously at her eyes.

As soon as she was out of sight, Quinn went up to them herself.

"Mister and Missus Evans?"

"Yes?" Mrs Evans asked, smiling at her through red puffy eyes.

"I'm Quinn Fabray, I was a friend of Sam's. I'm…I'm so sorry. We loved him, we all did. He was the best friend anybody could ever ask for and…we'll miss him. If you could please tell us when the funeral is going to be…we'd like it if you would let us attend…"

Mrs Evans engulfed her in a hug, and Quinn realized how much like Sam she smelt.

"We'll be cremating him and spreading his ashes in the field behind our house. He always wanted that. But thank you, so much. You're all very sweet, both you and that Latina girl. Is she one of your friends too?"

Quinn shrugged and started to walk away. "She's getting there."

* * *

><p>It was a solemn circle that sat on the hill, each of them staring at the spot where Sam had fallen, right in their midst. Rachel had convinced Artie to bring his guitar with him, and as he strummed the chords she had told him to, she had launched into her own, softer rendition of Helen by My Chemical Romance. Quinn soon joined in, leaning against Finn, shoulder to shoulder. Tina and Mike held hands in the light of the setting sun, adding their shaking voices to the song. Kurt and Blaine hummed in the background, and soon, the whole group was crying their eyes out, the song distressing them further.<p>

In the shadows of the tree nearby, Santana and Puck stood, the large boy crying openly, Santana mouthing the lyrics to the song herself.

"Can you hear me? Are you near me? Can we pretend to leave and then we'll meet again when both our cars collide!" Rachel belted out, casting her eyes up to the sky and feeling the breeze burn her eyes.

"What's the worst that I could say? Things are better if I say so long and goodnight! So long and goodnight!" the whole group suddenly shuddered out collectively, bringing the song to a close together. As soon as it was done, Rachel rose and clapped her hands together once, twice, gaining everyone's attention.

"We're here to honour Samuel Evans, who was a brave boy, a good heart, a gentle soul. He will be…sorely missed…" she choked, her breath hitching on the last two words. Quinn looked down at the grass, unable to contain the emotion hurtling through her.

"Before he died, Sam told me that he wanted to be a Hero. He told me that he was going to make it one day, and that he would be forever known and loved…" Tina interjected. Everyone turned their eyes to the usually quiet Asian, and she stood shakily, looking at the ground as she continued to speak. "To us, he'll always be a Hero. He was an innocent victim, who went down doing what he loved. To me, that is a true Hero. Sam will always be remembered…"

"Always…" Puck whispered to Santana in the shadows, and she nodded.

"Always," she repeated, grabbing his hand in her own. They turned away and walked quickly, hoping no one would notice them.

Back in the circle, they all looked up at the sky and watched the sun set, Quinn breathily counting down the seconds as she always did whenever she joined them. As soon as she reached 0, and the sky turned into a deep purple, everybody got up to walk away.

"Isn't it pointless to continue a tradition Sam started?" Blaine murmured as they walked, hoping that nobody would hear him thinking out loud.

"We should continue it, in his memory…" Finn answered, looking back and smiling sadly. "It's the right thing to do…"

* * *

><p>When Brittany entered the room that evening, she found a very ruffled Santana sitting on the edge of her bed, wearing a pair of grey trousers and a white t-shirt. She looked up when the blonde walked in, and soon looked away again.<p>

"Hi."

It was the first word that had been uttered between them for weeks.

Santana didn't look up.

"Look, Sam's death has made me think and, I don't want to spend my life away from you, San. You're everything to me. And I know I'm everything to you. Please, San…please let's get back together. Life's too short for us to be apart!"

Brittany watched Santana's face contort and the emotions flitting over her face, before the Latina turned her back to the blonde and made to look out the window.

Brittany sighed and started to change into her pajamas.

She had tried.

* * *

><p>"Rachel?" she stopped her.<p>

"Yes Quinn?" she answered.

"I…You have a beautiful voice," she complimented.

"Thank you, Quinn," she blushed

"I'll…see you," she grinned, walking away.

"Yeah…" she agreed, rubbing the back of her neck subconsciously.


	12. Chapter 12

How Quinn ended up lying, panting, on top of Rachel was beyond her understanding. She took one look around her room, which was empty (thanks to Kurt dragging Mercedes and Sugar out of the room so he could have some quality time with them) and followed the trail of clothes from the door to her bed, and then looked down at the girl beneath her.

Rachel had actually drifted off to sleep, her mouth still slightly open, her breathing finally slowed down. Quinn ran her fingers lightly over the brunette's face and smiled. Now she remembered…

* * *

><p>"Quinn?" she raised her head, looking up at Tina and smiled.<p>

"Hi, Tina. What's up?"

"Can I talk to you about Rachel?" she asked, sitting down gingerly next to Quinn on her bed. Mercedes had left the room to hang out with Kurt, dragging Sugar with her in an attempt to teach the girl something about real fashion. Quinn had been left alone in her room to read, and now, here she was.

"Uh…sure, I guess."

"Look, we all know what happened between you guys. It's seriously no secret at all. We all know you made out at that club last time, and that you've had some time alone and that something definitely happened during that time and…"

"Your point, Tina?"

"My point, Quinn, is that you're leading her on. Half the girls at this school have been there, do you really think we don't know what you're doing? Please, for all our sakes, just get on with it. Break her heart, have sex with her, whatever! Just make up your mind. You're hurting her leaving her waiting this long. So just…just do what you have to do, OK? Break up with her if you must!"

"We're not even dat-"

"Just…just do what you have to OK? I know you like her, I think you might even love her!" Tina got off the bed and smiled at Quinn, the smile that showed how truly wise this girl could be.

"I'm glad we had this talk." And with that she walked out of the room.

Quinn stared at the door for a good two minutes, her heart pounding in her ears as Tina's words washed over her mind, numbing her senses.

She loved Rachel. She did love her. It was so clear now…

It was like a slap to her face from some sort of spirit. Which was ironic because of Tina's power but…whatever! She levered herself off the bed and shot out of her room, running down the corridor, past the common bathrooms, and into the room at the end of the hall. Rachel's room.

She burst in, her eyes roaming the room. Santana lay curled up at the bottom of her bed, her paws covering her ears. Brittany lay in her own bed, splayed out on it and listening to her iPod. Rachel sat on what Quinn presumed was her own bed, reading a heavy looking tome. She looked up at Quinn, her mouth slightly open.

"Quinn?"

"You. With me. Now."

Rachel put the book down slowly, swinging her legs off the bed and landing them on the floor. "What's wrong?"

"Just, come with me, OK?"

Rachel followed Quinn out of the room, and before she closed the door, Quinn was sure she saw Brittany wink at her and mouth 'Go get her, tiger!'

* * *

><p>As soon as Rachel closed the door behind her, Quinn pushed her against the wall, pining the brunette's hands above her head from the wrist with one hand, the other hand supporting her weight against the door.<p>

"Quinn, what's-"

"Shush, OK?" Quinn breathed against Rachel's neck, planting hot kisses against her skin. "I've made up my mind with a little help. I want…I need you, Rachel."

Rachel gave a small gasp as Quinn sucked at her pulse point. "I've never felt this way about anyone before." She brought her lips up to Rachel's ear and nipped playfully at it, tugging at the lobe with her teeth. "Besides, you wanted this, didn't you?"

Rachel gave a small squeak that Quinn took to be a yes. She pulled her off the door and crashed their lips together, dragging her to the bed. In the forty seconds it took to get to the bed, they somehow lost every article of clothing they had on.

When they collapsed onto Quinn's bed, Rachel lay above her, her body already slick with sweat. Quinn ran her fingers lightly up and down her back, causing the brunette to shudder. Quinn merely let her hands roam, exploring every part of the girl that she could, learning her skin like it was her own.

"God, Rachel, you're beautiful!" she murmured, flipping them over so that she was on top. She dropped her lips back to the brunette's mouth and kissed her feverishly.

"Quinn, I…"

"Yes?"she asked, her hands slowly grazing Rachel's core.

"Just…just please…"

"You didn't have to beg, Rachel." But fine, she enjoyed seeing her bend to her will.

* * *

><p>Rachel's body was taut, tensing and relaxing rapidly beneath Quinn's hands. She panted heavily, moans escaping every now and then. Her fingers dug into Quinn's skin, scratching red angry marks across her back, her stomach, her arms. Quinn moved steadily, surely, already completely sure of Rachel's body and her reactions. This wasn't the mindless, brain-shattering sex she was used to. This went so much deeper, it was so much more meaningful.<p>

This was love in its purest form.

"Quinn!" she whispered, her lips parting with obvious difficulty. The blonde brought her ears close to Rachel's lips, smiling to herself as she continued to pump.

"Say it."

Rachel threw one arm over her eyes as Quinn pressed deeper, bringing her mouth down to the brunette's cleavage, licking a path down to the girl's belly button. "Say it, Rach…" she mumbled against her skin. "Just say it."

"I love you, Quinn," she stammered, and that was enough for the blonde.

Quinn gave one final, heavy thrust, and Rachel gave one last heavy cry. She arched her back, every pore of her body screaming out, every part of her mind went blank. Quinn crawled up, leveling her eyes with the other girl's, and staring into them, half-lidded as they were.

"Do you mean it?"

Rachel opened her eyes, her breathing calming down, her body relaxing.

"Yes…"

Quinn smiled and pulled her into a kiss, wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist.

Back to the current situation, Quinn looked at her blinking digital watch resting on her bedside table. The time was slowly inching towards seven PM, and everything was slowly growing darker outside. Rachel stirred awake in her arms and looked up at her, a dopey smile stretching across her face.

"How do you feel?" Quinn asked her, kissing the brunette's forehead.

"Tired, but great."

"Mm…I played you like a violin back then…" Quinn grinned, trailing her lips across Rachel's neck. "I didn't think somebody could be so loud…"

"Well, like you say, I am a song bird…"

Quinn looked up, surprised that Rachel actually remembered the nickname she used for her. She smiled warmly, and nodded. "Yeah, you are…but you know what?"

"What?"

Quinn swung her legs over Rachel's and levered herself steadily onto Rachel's body, brushing their foreheads together.

"You're my songbird."

Rachel stared into Quinn's green eyes, surprised at the sudden possessive tone. But her eyes soon became warm, and she clasped her hands firmly, resting them on Quinn's back.

"Yes, I am…"

The kiss that followed sent sparks flying behind both girls' eyelids.

* * *

><p>"Ten bucks that Quinn and Rachel are having the awesomest lesbian sex ever and will be the hottest couple we've ever seen tomorrow morning," Joey Marshall grinned, placing a ten dollar bill onto the table. Artie grinned. Joey was a very good friend of his, and would sometimes hang out with them when he had no one else to talk to.<p>

"Ten bucks Quinn won't even look at her tomorrow morning and make things awkward for all of us," the bespectacled boy placed his own money onto the table.

"Ten bucks they have sex, they become a couple, and that by the end of the year, Brittany and Santana get back together."

Everybody turned to look at Mike, who was thumbing his way through a book, "Cell" they thought it was.

"You ready to make that bet, mate?" Artie asked, tapping the table with two of his fingers. "Those two…they're not gonna be easy to convince…"

"They'll be fine. Ten bucks." Mike fished his wallet out quickly and brought out a ten dollar bill. "End of the year, and Brittany and Santana will be a couple again."

Artie and Joey looked at each other, Tina and Mercedes and Kurt gave each other knowing looks, and Mike turned his eyes to look at Puck and Santana, who were standing under an oak tree with their five new friends.

Mike could see pretty well, and even from here, he saw that Santana had never looked more miserable.

"I'm sure about it. I swear to God they will get back together."

* * *

><p>Santana lifted her eyes and looked at the group of her old friends, cracking her knuckles.<p>

"Do you miss them, Puck?"

He turned his eyes to look at her, and put a hand out to silence the other five as they all looked at her with contempt.

"The real question is, do you miss her?"

Ivy snorted and leaned back, sprawling her body onto the grass.

"You're better off without her, Santana."

Santana shrugged. "Yeah…you're probably right, Ivy."

Ivy smirked, closing her eyes and snapped her fingers once above her head. "I know I am."

* * *

><p>A week later it was Christmas Break, and the student body was sent to their separate homes for two weeks. Rachel went back to her fathers', Santana Brittany and Quinn all went back to Cincinnati, Finn and Kurt went to live with their parents that had gotten married about a year previously, Blaine went to live with his brother, and everybody else went their own ways too.<p>

And as they separated, Ivy looked over at Adamo and smiled at him.

"I'll see you after the break," she stated, wrapping her arms around her chest and walking off to meet her older sisters, all shape shifters. As she did, she glanced a look back. Adamo was giving her a sign, the one they had practiced when things would be going smoothly.

He brushed his right index finger down his forehead, down the bridge of his nose, and then patted his chest with his right hand once. She nodded, understanding.

Soon…


	13. Chapter 13

Rachel returned to St. Clementine's that January with a golden necklace around her neck, a star connected to the chain. Finn asked her if it was a present.

She said it was from Quinn.

As the people started to return to their dorm rooms, she found herself eagerly waiting for Quinn to arrive. They had planned to meet in the brunette's room, and reconnect as quickly as possible.

At ten AM, that Saturday morning, Tina arrived and showed Rachel the blue Skullcandies her father had bought her. At ten-fifteen, Santana walked in, showing off a skin tight purple-and-black striped dress and leather jacket, a product of her shopping trip to Paris. At ten-forty, Brittany arrived, her neck wrapped in a yellow and black Hogwarts-esque scarf. As the Latina laid eyes on the blonde, the two blushed.

"How was your break?" Rachel chirped, bouncing on her mattress.

"Good." "Fine." "Meh."

But Rachel saw the look the two exes gave each other before Santana grabbed her book and said she was going outside to read. Brittany watched her go sadly, sniffing at her scarf as she did. She flopped onto her bed, burying her face into the pillow and Rachel was afraid that the bounce she had entered the room with would soon evaporate and take them back to how they were before the break.

"Who gave you the scarf?" she asked gently. Brittany looked up at her slowly, a clear blue eye open and staring at her.

"Well…"

_Brittany sat on the sofa that Christmas morning, her siblings handing everybody their own presents. Her brother Brett asked her where Santana was. Brittany merely sniffed indignantly. She got off the sofa and moved to the window nearby. She had already opened all her presents: a new motocross helmet and gloves from Brett, a very big llama soft toy from her father, a pair of blue sneakers from her younger siblings who were both Super Speeders, a bottle of very expensive perfume from her powerless older sister, and a beautiful silver necklace with a 'B' pendant chained to it from her mother._

_Just as she was fingering the pendant already lodged firmly to her neck, she saw something black flit by and disappear almost as quickly. She squinted, trying to see past the snow, and saw it again. This time she recognized the shape: a black dog moving towards the house slowly, almost unsure of itself. Around its neck was a black and yellow scarf, and Brittany immediately rushed to the door._

_She opened it and let the poor creature in. It wiped its paws on the welcome mat inside and shook its fur, sitting back on its haunches. It suddenly transformed into Santana, sitting cross legged on the small carpet, untying the scarf from her neck._

"_This is for you."_

"_Thank you…" Brittany stared in awe at the scarf, smiling sheepishly. They had a never ending joke running between them, that Brittany would be sorted into Hufflepuff, Santana into Slytherin, and they'd have a Lilly-Snape-esque romance together. _

"_Santana?"_

"_What?"_

"_You're speaking to me again…"_

_Santana blushed, looking away and making to get up and leave. "I'm gonna go home."_

"_Wait-"_

_Brittany didn't have time to finish, Santana was already walking out. But just as Brittany made to close the door, Santana stopped, turned around and ran back into the house, barreling into Brittany with all her might. Brittany almost gave out a yell, but Santana's hand over her mouth silenced her. The Latina leaned in close, closing her eyes and touching their foreheads together. She gave out what sounded like a broken sob, and pursed her lips so tight she looked like she was about to swallow them. _

"_I'm leaving to Paris tomorrow. I'll see you back at St Clementine's."_

_Brittany nodded, and Santana removed her hand from her face, opening her eyes again._

"_Santana, I-"_

_The Latina leaned in close, closer than before, and brushed her lips tentatively against Brittany's. She pulled back almost as quickly as she had dove in, and gave the blonde a small, sad smile before walking back to the door._

"_Merry Christmas, Brittany."_

* * *

><p>Brittany was telling the story to her friends for the umpteenth time, and took a deep breath when she finally finished. Artie sipped at his hot chocolate before looking at her over the rim of his glasses.<p>

"So are you two back together?"

"No…she…she doesn't want us to be back together. Not yet…"

Tina gave a small 'aww' and wrapped her arms around the blonde's shoulders. "Don't worry! She'll come around eventually, we all know that!"

As everybody talked about the apparent 'Brittana' situation (as they lovingly called the pairing), Rachel and Quinn's hands were intertwined tightly beneath the table. Quinn was giving Rachel a look she only reserved when she was trying to get something she wanted. Rachel was shyly trying to ignore it.

"Come on Rach!" she whispered, bringing her lips dangerously close to Rachel's ear. "We can just tell them right now!"

Rachel shied away from the breath emitting from her girlfriend's lips and giggled. Girlfriend. It felt so right to say it.

"OK OK…on the count of three. One-"

"Guys, we have an announcement!" Quinn said, getting up and dragging Rachel with her.

"I said on three!" Rachel yelled, getting up anyways. "Well, since Quinn wants to be so forward about it, she and I are courting…" she died off, blushing profusely and hiding her face in the nearest soft surface – Quinn's shoulder.

"You're what?" Finn asked as everyone smiled knowingly at them.

"Dating, Finn. We're girlfriends."

The look of horror and jealousy that flashed over Finn's face after that was the scariest thing Rachel had ever seen.

* * *

><p>Puck landed on the grass next to Santana and grinned at her.<p>

"It is like dividing a deck of cards into two piles, Sophie. You lay black cards in one pile and the red in the other. But from time to time a joker turns up that is neither heart nor club, neither diamond nor spade. Socrates was this joker in Athens. He was neither certain nor indifferent. All he knew was that he knew nothing – and it troubled him. So he became a philosopher – someone who does not give up but tirelessly pursues his quest for truth."

Santana gazed surprised at him, marking her page and closing the book. "You…you know this book?"

"Read it two years ago. Awesome stuff. Actually memorized a lot of it."

"Who knew you were so smart…"

"I read, you know. Which brings me to my next point. Have you read 'The Symposium'?"

"Yeah."

"Remember what it said about Love?"

"Something about it being an eternal search for something that's missing, right?"

"Yeah." Puck grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to look in the direction of their friends, smiling to himself. "You see that blonde chick over there? I heard you were in love with her once. I think you're still in love with her right now. And you know what? She's that thing that you've been searching for, San!"

"Puckerman, stop…"

"No! If you were Eros, she's the thing that you always felt was missing from your life. Go for it, San! Go back!"

"Puck!" she screamed at him, jerking him out of his inspirational speech. "I'm not going back, OK?"

"But why not? You're in love with her!"

"I am not!"

"Oh really?" He slammed his fists against the ground and clenched them around blades of grass angrily, tearing a few out of the soil.

"Transform into an animal right now and tell me what you feel when you look at Brittany!"

"What?"

"Brittany's powers don't work on animals, Santana. We all know that. And if when you look at her you still feel as if you're pretty much in love, let me tell you something, honey: you are!"

Santana stared at him with wide eyes before quickly taking on the form of a white rabbit. She hopped off a few feet away from him and stood up on her hind legs, staring at Brittany. A few minutes later, she returned and turned back into a human.

Puck was giving her a stony glare as she grabbed her book and opened it again. He growled and ripped it out of her hands, placing his face in front of hers and staring into her eyes.

"So?"


	14. Chapter 14

For a few weeks everything was quiet. Brittany and Santana went back to avoiding each other, but the atmosphere had cleared considerably. Brittany wasn't as upset as before, now she was merely…

Quinn said the word was waiting.

And then something happened that made Brittany realize she didn't have to wait any longer.

* * *

><p>It was a warm February day, and Brittany was merely sitting at a table, watching Mike and Tina play in the tree above her. Play was exactly the correct word to describe how those two interacted with each other. They were like two enamored puppies, yapping at each other and bouncing all around. Today they were squirrels, exploring the leafy world above her head.<p>

"Hey."

She looked up at the rough voice and felt a seer of pain explode on her right cheek. She gave a breathy gasp, and it suddenly felt as if all the warmth and sound was taken out of the world. She looked up at Ivy and got off her seat, grinding her teeth together.

"What do you want?"

"Honestly, just to see you gone! You messed Santana up!" Ivy yelled, prodding Brittany in the chest, aiming to hurt her. Brittany clenched and unclenched her fists, taking a step forward and bringing her face closer to Ivy's.

"Listen here," she spat, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I never did anything to Santana. I love her!"

"You do, do you? Well, do you love her enough to actually lay a hand on me for once? You're a wimp, a baby, and you hide behind your power!" Ivy chastised her, grabbing Brittany's shirt collar and twisting her around, slamming her against the nearest tree. "So fight back, coward!"

"Let go of me!" Brittany writhed. Ivy's grin became wild, her eyes wide and her hair teeth bared. She looked like an even more demented Cheshire cat.

"Come at me!" she yelled at her, slapping her. Brittany whimpered and Ivy gave a sharp bark-like laugh before pulling her away from the tree and pushing her to the ground.

Ivy's hand suddenly became smaller but wider, heavier, and then altogether resembled a panther paw. She lowered her hand to Brittany's face, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the scratch that would gouge her eyes out.

It never came. What did, however, was a roar of rage.

She opened her eyes and stared as Santana beat Ivy in her face repeatedly, clawing at her eyes and neck with human hands. Ivy pushed her off, donkey kicking her in the stomach. Santana gave a loud 'oof' before falling onto her back, cringing in pain. She crawled back onto her knees and stared at Ivy, her body transforming slickly into a black panther.

Ivy ran at her, head butting her forcefully into a tree and letting the feline give out a yelp. Nobody did anything to help, they all just stared at the spectacle unfolding before them.

Ivy was soon a tiger, grinding her teeth into Santana's neck. The panther was slowly losing her fight, loosing blood and becoming weak. The tiger swiped at her chest, leaving three angry red slashes, and the panther fell to the grass, completely drained of energy. The air shimmered and Santana replaced the big cat, clutching at her chest with one arm, and grasping her neck with another. The screams she was giving were pure agony, and Brittany doubted she would be conscious in the next few minutes.

The tiger standing above Santana soon turned into Ivy, straddling her and holding a hand up to her neck, almost as if she intended to break it at any moment.

"Look at you! You have the potential to be so powerful, so strong, even better than me! And you're letting some girl be your master!"

Next thing she knew, Brittany was pushing Ivy off Santana, catching the tigress of guard and holding Santana's head in her lap.

"San, San? Answer me! Talk to me!" she cried out. The whole student body seemed to suddenly spring into action, running at them and holding Ivy back. Santana opened her eyes wearily, and stared at Ivy, grinding her teeth together to power through the pain.

"The deal's…off…Ivy…you tried to touch…Brittany…"

"Santana, don't speak!" Brittany shushed her, finding the strength to get up and hoist the weaker girl up with her.

As Brittany ran off with the brunette to the infirmary, she watched Santana's eyes start to slowly lose life. But right before she lost consciousness, she looked at Brittany and smiled.

"Britt…I…I'm sorry…"

When Santana finally reached the infirmary, she was stone cold.

* * *

><p>Rachel and Quinn ran into the infirmary, clutching hands tightly and eyes wildly spinning around to find Santana.<p>

They soon spotted a blonde lying in bed next to a broken form, the blonde figure crooning softly into the other's ear.

"Lights will guide you on….and ignite your bones…" Brittany's voice wafted in the air to Rachel's ears, and Rachel felt her eyes start to water. The display of love was so strong, that even Quinn seemed to be breaking slightly.

"Brittany."

The blonde looked up and stopped singing, but curled her arms tighter around Santana's body. Santana looked almost asleep, her breathing sounded labored, her eyes half-closed.

"How is she?" Quinn asked, going to one side of the bed and reaching out to take one of Santana's hands. Brittany glared at her slightly, but she seemed to trust the other blonde enough to let her touch the fragile being in her grasp.

"She's fine. They've stitched her up, she'll be weak for the next few days though. Won't be able to leave for another four days. They need blood donors to, you know, give her what she lost. So I'll be staying here. I'm an A Positive, but it's OK because the nurse said that I can give her blood."

"Are you sure about that, Britt?" Quinn asked, again. Brittany smiled at her and then looked back down at Santana, brushing her hand through the girl's fringe.

"I'm sure. Besides, with my blood pumping through her heart, it'll be like I'm always with her, in her heart, all the time…"

Rachel grinned and moved forward. "Do you need anything, anything at all?"

Brittany shook her head and nestled her head on top of Santana's. The darker girl murmured in her sleep and cuddled closer to her personal pillow, her jaw going slack in her sleep. Brittany giggled and kissed the top of Santana's head.

"I'm fine. We're fine. She'll be fine. I hope."

* * *

><p>Rachel and Quinn lay in Rachel's bed, staring at the ceiling. Quinn grinned stupidly to herself, and Rachel was slowly getting annoyed with the air of superiority.<p>

"Quinn?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think Santana and Brittany will get back together?"

"Why must we talk about other couples when we're naked in your bed?"

"Because they're our friends?"

"Wrong answer…"

"I just wonder-"

"Stop wondering! You've got me right now! And I'm all that matters!"

"Oh, don't get too ahead of yourself there, Quinn…" Rachel rolled her eyes, reaching up a hand to play with Quinn's hair. "But yes, you are all that I think about…"

Quinn gave one curt nod and kissed Rachel, relishing in the way their lips molded perfectly into each other, how Rachel always tasted like the sweetest thing she had ever had the pleasure to taste. "We're gonna be better than Britt and San, you know?"

"Why's that?"

"Because you and I don't have pricks like Ivy in our lives."

Rachel groaned and rolled onto her side, laughing. "Fine…you're right."

As silence fell between them, Quinn started to giggle softly to herself. Rachel rolled her eyes and slapped Quinn's hand away from her hips.

"Stop being so smug about it."

"I made you scream my name five times tonight Rachel, and each time in the throes of ecstasy. That is one huge accomplishment!"

"Can I have my own turn now?" Rachel asked, reaching a hand down to brush against Quinn's legs. Quinn squirmed and nodded.

"Yes, please!"

* * *

><p>Over the next two days, the infirmary was always occupied by somebody visiting the always sleeping Santana. Brittany was always there too, never leaving her side and pretty much just always in physical contact with the girl. Rachel and Quinn were the most frequent visitors, always bringing one single sunflower with them, after Brittany had told them that Santana loved the flowers. On the second day, Rachel noticed how red and itchy the scars across the Latina's neck looked, and knew that the ones or her chest were probably a lot worse. She cringed at the thought, promising herself that if Ivy ever came into her grasp, she would not let her go without a few choice words and a hearty slaps.<p>

It was on the second night that something happened that gave hope for the group dynamic to finally be restored.

Just as Rachel and Quinn were entering the room, they noticed Brittany was sitting on the bed, her arms holding Santana close to her body, and that Santana seemed to be shaking in what Rachel only assumed was pain. When they neared closer they realized that Santana was indeed awake this time, and that she was saying something that sounded like 'Dios, it hurts! Britt it hurts!'

Quinn put a hand out, holding her girlfriend back and simply staring at the couple on the bed. Brittany was trying to calm down the injured girl in her arms, and lowered her face to look her in the eyes. Santana, blind with tears, was shaking her head and moaning in frustration as she scratched at the marred skin. Brittany grabbed her hands and clasped them in her own in hopes of stopping her fidgeting.

Rachel watched from behind Quinn as Brittany's head suddenly dipped and captured Santana's lips in her own, stopping any protests and cries of pain. Quinn turned and pulled Rachel along with her, out the door they had just entered from.

"But the flower-"

"They'll be fine without it for one day, Rachel."

* * *

><p>When Rachel was seen exiting Quinn's room that evening, her hair in a disheveled mess on her head and her clothes askew on her shoulders, nobody really said anything.<p>

That is, until Finn stopped her in the corridor.

"Hey, Rachel."

She looked up at the boy and smiled warmly at him. "Hello, Finn."

"I see you were just with Quinn, huh?"

She blushed and reached a hand up to the space on her neck where he was pointing, rubbing slowly at the hickey. "Yes, I was. She's…wonderful."

"Yeah, so I hear," he spat, leaning against the wall. "So, been thinking about anything lately?"

Rachel looked up at him, startled. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I've only known you for a little while but you're not stupid, that much I know. But lately I've seriously doubted that."

"Why's that?" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest, watching as the gears in his brain visibly worked to formulate a non-offensive way to say what he was going to say next.

" You know that Quinn's powers make you think that the thought she put in your head was your own right? Like Inception? Well…have you ever wondered that maybe, just maybe, the thought in your head right now, that you 'love'-" here he brought his hands up, forming air quotes, "Quinn, was put there by her? That you don't really love her, you're only telling yourself that because she tricked you into thinking that?"

Rachel stared at him for a few moments before she reached up and slapped him.

"First of all, I would expect you to be happy for me that I've found somebody who feels as strongly for me as I do them! You know I have never really been in a relationship because of my reputation back at school. All this is amazingly wonderful to me! And another thing, I can't believe you'd speak badly about Quinn like that! I thought she was your best friend!"

"But Rachel I'm just trying to protect you!" he protested, rubbing his cheek. She shook her head and stormed off, ignoring the shouts coming over her shoulder.

"You're gonna regret this, Rachel!"

* * *

><p>In her room, Rachel quickly changed and sat on the window sill, looking out over courtyard. The spot where Sam had died was clearly visible from here. They had erected a small stone pedestal for him, and it was never empty of flowers and candles. Right now, five burned brightly, Mike's handy work. She breathed in deeply and leant her aching head against the window pane, feeling Finn's words actually sink down onto her shoulder.<p>

Come to think of it…

Things actually made sense now.


	15. Chapter 15

Finn stormed through the hallways, clenching and unclenching his hands rapidly, making his way towards the training room Quinn trained in alone. It was her favourite haunt, and Mike had tipped him off to her location. He kicked the door open, sending it flying halfway through the room.

"Finn!" she yelled at him, and Quinn stopped throwing punches at the poor, rag-beaten bag hanging before her.

"What the fuck do you think you're-"

She never finished her sentence. He was thundering towards her, raving madly. At first, over the pounding of her heart in her ears, she couldn't' understand a word he said. When she finally managed to zone in on his voice she heard the words "Rachel" and "liar". She froze and grounded herself, feet firmly set into a defensive stance. He almost landed a punch to her ear but she managed to dodge and grab his fist firmly in her own.

"Finn," she probed again. He glowered at her, relaxing the fist clenched in her hand, and she let him go.

Big mistake.

He slapped her right across the face with his backhand, and she staggered backwards, clutching at her reddening cheek.

"What is wrong with you?" he yelled. She gawped, putting a hand to her chest and letting her mouth hang open.

"You're the one slapping me around like a rag doll!"

"Why are you doing this to Rachel?"

She made her eyes meet his, trying to read his emotions, his intentions. She was no mind reader, but boy she sure wished she was born with that extension to her power sometimes…

"What exactly are you accusing me of, Finn?" Oh God, I'm talking like her now! Well…you are what you eat, I guess…

"You've planted a thought in her head, didn't you? You totally did! Why else would she be in love with you! She was completely straight before you showed up!" he shouted at her, doing that thing he does with his hands and the flailing when he's upset and angry.

"Did she tell you that?" Quinn roared back, getting off the floor and staring up at him, barring her teeth. "For all we know she was as gay as a daffodil when she came to the school, I just made her realize that she was!"

"By planting a thought in her head!"

"Why are you so convinced that I did that?"

"Because I know you, Quinn. And you don't like to lose something you want! You'll take it anyway you want, and if that means forcing yourself onto someone, you'll do it!"

She blinked, frustration ebbing and replaced with a sense of dread.

"I…"

"Is it true?"

She hung her head, placing a hand to her head and nervously running it through her hair.

"Quinn!"

"Only in the beginning, alright?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She collapsed onto a training mat, crossing her legs and looking stupidly at the sweat-stained floor. "When I first met her, my first thoughts were 'Oh, damn!' and I just thought that I had to hook up with her somehow! It wasn't very…nice of me, I know, but I always do that, you know that! And I thought 'If I can get her to look at me, she'll be mine!' And we did look at each other, you know, for like a few seconds. And I tried to plant that thought but it came out half-assed. It wasn't 'This girl looks like a really awesome person. I think I wanna have sex with her'. She blinked, so what I ended up planting was a half thought. All it said was 'This girl looks like a really awesome person. I think'. So it kinda sucked 'coz she filled in the rest, you know? She probably thought that the rest of the thing said 'I want to be her friend' or something.

"And then that night I stopped her in the corridors, and I tried again. But she's strong! She's got this really big mental barrier around her mind, I think it's because of her ego. Anyways, she blocked me out again. But I was prepared this time, 'coz I only put in a few words here and there. And I was like…inches from her face when I did it. Like I could have kissed her if I wanted to. But then I just left, and it should have worked then! If I made her fall in love with me, I'm lucky. It was a long shot that she'd go for me after that because, honestly, I don't think I put in that much effort into it!

"And then I dreamt that night. I had this awesome dream and I can't remember half of it but she was there and it was the happiest dream ever because I woke up smiling, Finn! I was smiling! And when I we went clubbing and she was just so perfect in that light and I was all adrenaline rushed and by that time the thoughts should have worn off or just settled in and I decided to try and she was kissing me and we were…it was perfect.

"I fell in love with her because of her mental strength. I love a challenge, I needed to get through. But when I finally actually tried to get to her, I forgot about all that crap completely. I was just going for her because I wanted to, not to break her!

"Finn, I love her."

She fell silent, and refused to look up. She knew he hadn't left the room, she could hear his bumbling breaths. He shuffled around uncomfortably before saying the next few words.

"Let her go."

"Excuse me?" she snapped. He put up a hand, and she sank back into her silence, letting him speak.

"Let her go, Quinn. If she really loves you, she'll come back to you. But you have to let her go like, mentally."

"You know I can't do that, Finn. Once a thought's there, it's there. The person either stops thinking about it or it grows stronger. The only thing that can remove it is a Canceller and even then, chances are risky."

She finally looked up at Finn properly, at his face, and the glare that met her made her shudder.

"Then I guess you and I have nothing to talk about anymore."

And with that he was gone.

That night, Rachel found herself sitting next to Finn in the Common Room. He was fiddling around with drum sticks, tying duct tape to the places where his hands would be secured. "For grip," he said. She had only smiled sweetly at him. Their last conversation was still buried in her head.

The room was slowly emptying. Brittany had long left, rushing back to Santana's side with a book she had picked off the shelves. Tina and Mike had decided to take a walk in the slowly chilling evening air, Kurt and Blaine had kissed each other good night and gone to their separate rooms, and they were the only ones there now.

"Finn, I don't think that what you said to me was appropriate. At all."

He stopped wrapping the grey tape onto the sticks and looked up at her, rubbing the back of his head.

"I mean it though."

"Quinn loves me."

"Yeah, that much I don't doubt, you know."

"And I love her."

"Are you sure, though?"

"Yes! How many times do we have to go through with this!"

He sighed and fell back onto the sofa. "This is only the second time, Rachel."

"Finn, I love Quinn. I know we haven't been together long but I do. She wonderful to me, she listens to what I have to say and when I look at her-"

"Let me guess: short of breath, lost in her eyes, feel like you could stare at just them for the rest of your life? Oh and you feel this tugging right, somewhere in your body. You don't know where it is but you feel it."

She paused and let her hands fall to her side, exhaling a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"How do you know?"

"Because before you got here, Quinn used the same tactic on every girl. And they always said the same, damn thing. The only girls she hasn't tried it on are Brittany, Santana, Mercedes and Ivy. The rest of the girls in this school have had a piece of her blonde ass, and whenever I talk to them they all say the same thing."

Rachel felt some sort of crumbling in her chest, and she swore she could hear a miniscule crack in her head.

So this is what heart break feels like…

She stared at Finn, her eyes filing with blurry visions as the tears threatened to spill. He reached out to her and hugged her to him, rubbing circles into her back in an effort to soothe her. Smugly, he smirked, knowing that this time he had been right.

"What do I do now, Finn?"

"Guys?"

Mercedes and Sugar looked up at Quinn, Sugar still rubbing some sort of green facial mask onto her face.

"Is it…forcing yourself onto someone if you make them like you?"

"Well, kinda," Sugar nodded, rubbing at her face methodically.

"If she's not saying no doesn't mean she's saying yes!" Mercedes shot out, wagging her finger in the air. "Why do you ask though?"

"I think I may have made a mistake…"

Sugar shrugged and returned back to looking into the mirror.

"If it's a mistake then go make it right. For a girl who's so smart, Quinn, you sure can be stupid sometimes. Besides, don't make it right, and Rachel will go crawling to Finn. We've all seen the way that guy looks at her!"

"Besides, White Girl, the only way you'd have forced yourself onto Rachel is if you planted the thought of sex into her head. And you didn't do that, did you?"

Quinn shook her head.

"Then you have nothing to worry about."


	16. Chapter 16

Quinn was walking down the corridor, clutching a brilliantly red rose in her left hand, humming softly to herself as she made her way to Rachel's door. Something that Sugar had said had struck her. She had to make things right. If not for Rachel, at least for herself. She just had to convince herself she was doing the right thing. She wasn't buying Rachel's affection in anyway. She wasn't using her powers on her at all. She was really in love with her, and vice versa. Everything was fine.

As she neared Rachel's door, she heard a soft click come from behind it. It opened, and out stepped the brunette she was looking for, her eyes slightly red and puffy. Quinn stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the obviously saddened Rachel standing before her. Rachel looked up, catching her eyes, and took a step back.

"Rachel!" Quinn suddenly snapped out of her silence, running forward clumsily and skidding to a halt, grabbing the smaller girl's shoulders. Rachel looked away, down at the floor, at the rose trampled down beneath Quinn's hurried feet.

"Pity about the flower…"

"Never mind that! What happened? Who hurt you?"

Rachel looked up at her, those brown lustrous eyes suddenly losing all their light. "You did."

Quinn let go of her girlfriend, dropping her hands slowly to her sides and staring. "What do you mean?"

"You used your power on me, didn't you?" Rachel asked, leaning against her door and crossing her arms over her chest, taking up a defensive stance. "Finn said-"

"Finn? You're taking advice from a guy who so obviously wants you for himself?"

"Not so loud, Quinn! And Finn said that you used your powers on me so you could get to me!"

"Well, Finn's got it wrong there. If I had used my powers on you I would have left you alone by now. I wouldn't even be here talking to you! I don't care about the people I use my powers on!"

"Quinn-"

"No, Rachel! I am not being quiet about this! I love you, OK? And I never once used my powers on you! You have to believe me!" she practically screamed out, and then a switch was pulled.

She felt as if a tap had gone off in her head, sending water tumbling down through the back of her mind and into the rest of her body, filling her with a surge of power. Her fists clenched, her toes curled, her eyes watered, and every bit of restraint she had ever learnt from years of training flew out of the metaphorical window, leaving her with a large gaping hole.

It was the pulse that shuddered through her that told her that she had just unwillingly used her power on Rachel.

The pulse travelled quickly, too quickly for her to be able to stop it. It shot out, hitting Rachel square in the chest and vibrating through her own body. Only Quinn could see it, only she could feel it. Rachel remained oblivious to the happenings, but Quinn saw it all unfold in slow motion, slowly taking its toll on Rachel's mind. She felt the thought plant itself in her mind, and she gave a grunt of disapproval before sending another thought wave out quickly, eradicating the first.

_I'm sorry, Rachel…_

The blonde fell to her knees, clutching her head in agony. She suddenly remembered why she didn't use her power so often. The migraines were unbearable…

"You just…you…" she heard Rachel stammer above her. Of course. She had just put herself into a very bad position…

"You are using your powers on me."

"Rachel, I can explain."

"Don't." She didn't have to look up to know that Rachel was suddenly walking back into her room and slamming the door shut, leaving Quinn a quivering, pained mess on the floor.

* * *

><p>Santana took a deep breath in, willing the dizziness in her head to stop for just one fucking second, please. Her neck still ached, her chest was even worse, but she was better. Much better. A few days in the hospital had served her well, and being beside Brittany again…<p>

That had definitely helped.

The kiss in the hospital bed had been rejuvenating at the very least. She had felt everything fall into place at that very moment, every fiber of her being calling out to Brittany in that one, brief moment. It was like everything was finally making sense again, and things felt as if they could go back to how they were.

The only thing she had to do right now was apologize.

She gave a small snort. That word. That stupid word. She rarely apologized for anything. Never once had she ever thought that she would say 'sorry' to anybody unless she really was at fault, Brittany included. She would never apologize for anything she thought had been a good idea at the time, never say sorry for anything she deemed was honorable.

And suddenly, the voice of her Papi floated into her head.

"Mija, just remember, sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest."

But of course. Apologizing to Brittany would be the right thing here. She had been at fault, she had done something she had promised she would never do…

She had lashed out, trusted her instincts, and just went for it.

"_Remember that you are now an official Shapeshifter just like the rest of us!"_

"_Yes, Cristof."_

"_There are certain rules and things that you have to know or else you'll never be able to make it right."_

"_Yes, I get it."_

"_So, remember, there are three simple rules to being a Shapeshifter…Always listen to your fighting spirit, never be stupid enough to be carnal, and always always _always _remember that your instincts are flawed. Acting out on them could hurt someone you really care about."_

She knew that at this time, Brittany would be in her room, reading or listening to music or something, and that Tina would be there too, getting ready to go and meet Mike in the Common Room they so often used for themselves. She also knew that since Rachel and Quinn started going out, Rachel spent her time in Quinn's room, doing whatever it was that they did (she didn't want to think about it…).

And so, with a deep breath, she pushed the door to her room open, stepping through.

* * *

><p>"Rachel, talk to me."<p>

Quinn had been leaning against the door for about forty five minutes now, knowing Rachel hadn't walked out (unless she could suddenly walk through walls, or maybe through her window). It had taken her twenty minutes to realize that this wasn't even Rachel's room, it was actually Finn and Sam's (she cringed; the memory of the blonde Angel was still in her mind). And then about ten minutes ago, she saw Santana hurry up the stairs and skid to a halt in front of her room, breathe in deeply, stay stock still for about five minutes, then walk through.

Now, she was pleading with Rachel again.

"Talk to me, Rachel. Just, come on!"

She thought she heard what sounded like a 'no'. Or maybe just a whimper. Whatever it was, it was too soft to hear.

"Finn's gonna be mighty pissed at you if you stay in there for long, you know." She immediately regretted saying that. Finn wouldn't regret it, he would love it. Stupid boy, always obsessed with sex. They probably already had sex in there.

And that just made her even more pissed off.

"Go away, Quinn." The masculine voice startled her. She moved off the door, almost as if it had spoken to her, bit her, and asked her if she would like a cigarette.

"Finn? You're in there?"

"Go away!"

"If you do anything to her…if you decide to touch her in any way…"

She heard the lock click and moved further back, feeling her tough demeanor suddenly ebb. Finn stepped out, his gigantic figure hulking above her, glaring down at her through dopey brown eyes.

"You hurt her."

"I didn't mean to, you know that!"

"You're out of control, Quinn."

"I'm not! I'm fine! I just got…a little carried away, OK?"

His calmness scared her; the way he seemed to be speaking so softly was surely an indication of how angry he really was.

"You used your powers on Rachel."

"Only once-"

"Twice. Have you already forgotten what happened here an hour ago?"

"Actually forty minutes ago but who's counting?"

"Quinn!" This time it was a yell, and she jumped backwards, shuddering like a lost puppy. "Go away, back to your room, whatever! Just leave Rachel alone! She doesn't want you, got it?"

She watched him walk back into the room, and as he opened the door slightly, she thought she saw a flash of brilliant brown hair – Rachel! – sitting on the bed, her legs crossed behind her and her eyes eagerly following him back to the bed. She growled and slammed her fist into the wall.

Whatever Finn had told her had to be fixed. And fast.

* * *

><p>"Babe!" Brittany grinned as Santana walked into the room, bouncing off her bed and rushing towards her. Santana stepped back, stopping the blonde in her tracks as she tried to hug her. The happiness on Brittany's face suddenly evaporated, and she stepped back too, pouting.<p>

"I thought we were over this…"

"We are. I just…I need to tell you something."

Brittany nodded and moved back to her bed, sitting down. Santana stood next to her, wringing her hands nervously, cracking her knuckles one by one as she spoke.

"I was stupid for doing what I did. I acted on instinct, I thought that Rachel was right. I don't know why I listened to that Hobbit, really, but whatever. When we were apart it killed me, like we were trying too hard to stay apart and we couldn't manage. Everywhere I looked you were somehow always there, and I know I was too! And then…whenever I was an animal, whenever I looked at you through those stupid eyes I just…I realized something. Animals aren't affected by your powers, and even when I was in dog form or rabbit or bird or whatever…I could feel you. I felt everything I felt before. I love you…I always have. It's all my fault. I'm…I'm sorry."

Brittany stared at her, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted, trying to form words. Santana suddenly felt fifteen again, asking for love, a love she knew she was so lucky to even receive an inch of.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," she heard, a far away whisper. She stared at the blonde, suddenly seeing her face break into a smile, and nodded.

Falling to her knees, she grabbed Brittany's hands in hers and put them up to her lips. Kissing them lightly as she spoke, she began, just as it had been two years before…

* * *

><p>Rachel slowly got off Finn's bed, brushing herself of imaginary germs. "I'll be off now."<p>

"You sure you're fine?" he asked, leaning back against his mattress. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. She…she got it coming."

"You gonna let her think whatever about us, though?"

"It's the art of bitching, Finn," Rachel smirked, arranging her clothes on her body. "Let her think what she wants to. If she really wants me, she'll fight to get me back. Or whatever she may choose to think. Anything that has to do with her and her wellbeing does not interest me every since she revealed that she has used her powers on me, at least once, in the past."

* * *

><p><em>She was shaking. How fucking pathetic. Shaking just because she was talking to Brittany. She wasn't meeting Paula Abdul! She was just talking to Brittany…<em>

_But…this was so important…_

_She heard Quinn give a loud cough from behind her. Santana rolled her eyes and moved forward, quickly running over her lines in her head again. It was like she was a very unfortunate player in some Shakespearean play. And it all depended on what Brittany would tell her. Brittany was the one who would write the ending of the play, make it a beautifully happy romantic comedy, or a blissfully evil tragedy where one of them dies of a broken heart by the end._

"_Britt…"_

_The blonde looked up at her, that ditzy smile she loved painted across her face. Santana took one quick glance back. Quinn was leaning against a locker nearby, making out with her girlfriend of the week._

_She was on her own now._

"_What is it, San?"_

_Santana quickly fell to her knees, grabbing Brittany's hands in her own palms and dragging them up to her lips, kissing the knuckles, breathing in the girl's scent._

_She was sixteen and she was on her motherfucking knees in front of this angel of a person. _

_What had she done to herself?_

"_It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived who you may know by the name of Annabel Lee. And this maiden he lives with no other thought than to love and be loved by me…"_

"…we loved with a love that was more than love – I and my Annabel Lee. With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me…" she stopped and looked at Brittany, right into her eyes, waiting for any sign that she wanted to hear the rest. Brittany shook her head.

"But the next part is so sad…"

She shrugged. "The next part is…how about I just skip to the nice parts?"

The blonde gave one small giggle. Santana nodded. A clear indication.

"But our love it was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we – of many far wiser than we – and neither the angels in heaven above, nor the demons down under the sea, can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee. And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee," she paused, and rose up further on her knees. Their foreheads were almost touching, Brittany's breath was tickling her nose. She hissed in a breath before continuing, breathing in the moment. "And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling…" she reached out, cupping Brittany's cheek with her right hand, smiling through tears she hadn't realized were forming. "MY darling…my life and my bride."

Brittany gave a shaky laugh, her own eyes spilling waters as she bumped their foreheads together and angled her head. "I missed you so much…"

"I missed you too…" Santana murmured into her lips, kissing her softly.

"I will never make that mistake again. I swear."

* * *

><p>Rachel hated this. She actually despised this feeling in her chest. The constricting muscles, the loud thumping in her ears, the scratchy eyes…it all felt so…<p>

Real.

It felt final.

But Finn was right. Quinn had actually used her powers on her. Who knows for how long? If what he said was true, then she had been doing it since the very beginning, when she tried to get into her head and see how mentally strong she was. What if she had put a thought into her head then? What if the aftermath of that thought had been that night at the club, and that day before the holidays?

Everything was fitting into place. But it didn't mean she had to like the way the puzzle looked.

If Quinn really had done those things, it would have been just as bad as if she had forced herself onto her, literally raped her. Rachel hadn't wanted it, at least deep down she hadn't. And as far as she knew, it was still considered a crime…right?

She walked into her room, and the first thing that hit her was Tina's squealing. The next was that Brittany was spinning an air-borne Santana around, clinging to her from the waist. Obviously…things here were just as they should be.

She put on her best fake smile and squared her shoulders.

Screw Quinn. She didn't need anybody.

* * *

><p>As Rachel squared her shoulders inside the building, Quinn found herself morosely picking at an old scar on her knuckles, wincing as pain shot up her arm to her brain. Her headache hadn't left, her brain was still pounding relentlessly.<p>

And Rachel still thought that all this was an act. Or rather…a mind-control induced act.

As she crossed her arms and leaned back against the tree she was under, watching the sky start to cloud over with rain bringers, she found her gaze trained on a small pillar of smoke rising next to the rock that had seen so many Santana-involved fights.

Hearing a soft, faraway scream, she got up and rushed forward, pushing her Rachel worries away for the time being.

Because if she ever recognized anything, it was people's voices.

And right now, Artie was in trouble.


	17. Chapter 17

Artie gave an inward groan as Grayson's fist connected with his stomach. He looked up at the sky and cursed himself for falling for Ivy's wounded dog trick and being lured here. He knew what they were doing as soon as they pushed him off the chair.

Sam was the first to go. Now it was his turn.

He heard someone call his name as one of the twins – he couldn't tell who – lit his shoe on fire. He gave another ear piercing scream, and then heard Quinn call loudly.

"Artie!"

"Kill her!" Ivy growled.

"No, you idiot! Let her tell the others!" Adamo laughed maniacally as Artie watched Quinn freeze. "Tell them war beings now!"

The next few minutes were blissful agony as Arthur Abrams's body was consumed by fire.

* * *

><p>Quinn stumbled over her feet, slipping and sliding to the dormitories. She reached the end of the long, door-filled hallway and gave one heart shattering yell. Doors opened and people flew out. She stared at them all. Stretchers, Mind Controllers, Mongers, Shapeshifters, Fliers, Teleporters, Speeders…her friends.<p>

"War has begun."

For a few seconds, the whole hall was silent as the words slowly sank down into the fitted carpet. Then, an eruption of energy.

Half of the Fire Mongers suddenly lit their hands in planned fury, punching anybody coming close. Out of the corner of her eye, Quinn thought she saw Finn tackle one of them to the floor. She heard a shrill scream, and hoped it wasn't Rachel as she ran forward and kicked an offending Monger right in the belly, sending him into three of his companions.

"It was all set up!" she yelled over the noise as she spotted Santana protecting Brittany, gritting her teeth through her pain. Brittany looked over at Quinn and nodded, her eyes wide and scared.

"They were planning this all along! I can feel it!"

Quinn felt somebody grab her by the hair, pulling her back and bringing something cold and metallic to her throat.

And then, a large shout.

"Stop!"

Everyone in the hall suddenly froze and all the fire extinguished, as Blaine and three others held their hands up. The short boy was sweating, his brow furrowed and eyes closed as he concentrated on keeping everybody's powers in check.

"Leave right now, or I'll remove all your powers!" he roared, his voice deep and heavy. Half the hall suddenly emptied as most of them rushed out, clearly joining the other side. Quinn fell to the floor, panting, and watched as Blaine collapsed too, the exertion of his powers clear on his face and in his stance.

Santana ran up to Quinn and helped her up, her arms beneath the blonde's arms in an effort to keep her standing.

"Quinn, what happened?"

"Artie. They got him. He's gone. And they declared War." Her teeth were chattering, it was hard to form a complete sentence. Santana's body was suddenly radiating warmth, a sure sign she was preparing for a heavy battle.

"Right. No time to mourn our dead. We have to go for the kill." She looked around the hallway, pursing her lips in disappointment. They were a meager lot, maybe a hundred heads. The other side had more…much more…

"Everybody, get ready. In an hour we start battle."

* * *

><p>Puck clapped Horatio on the back, who grinned.<p>

"James, Grayson, you ready for this?"

The twins nodded and flexed their arms, grinning back, showing their teeth.

"They won't know what hit them," Puck murmured, watching the dormitory building as everyone inside stepped out, their bodies tensed and ready for battle.

For a few tense minutes, the grounds were quiet. Quinn felt all the enemy eyes rest on each and every one of them, gauging them out, testing their strength.

And then one strong yell, and hell broke loose.

"Charge!"


	18. Chapter 18

Kurt grabbed Blaine by the shoulders and pulled him to his chest, wrapping his arms defensively around him.

"I love you."

"I love you too," Blaine nodded, smiling.

"Be careful out there, OK? Don't die, please…"

"I won't, I promise."

"You sure?"

"Yes!" Blaine gave a shaky, nervous laugh, cracking his fingers as he pulled away from Kurt and looked out at the field. "We can do this. We definitely can…"

"We're out numbered…" Kurt murmured, and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"But we're strong, and we've got most of the awesome powers on our side."

Kurt looked around them. About a hundred Shapeshifters had stayed with them, were hanging onto Santana's every word as she described the best strategy. Every Canceller in the school was standing close by, watching Blaine intently, waiting for orders. Quinn was pointing out directions to twenty Mind Controllers, and Rachel was giving the Sirens positions. Finn had most of the Flyers and Supers on his side, all of them flexing and stretching as they stood behind him, waiting to get into the fray.

"The Mongers are almost all on their side."

"We've got like, fifteen. But that's good enough. They're all pretty good. And we've got Tina and Mike too! The Stretchers and the Animi…they're all pretty good."

"There are maybe ten of those in total."

"Yeah, but they'll do."

Kurt swallowed. "We are going to die."

Blaine gave something close to a growl and reached up for Kurt's shoulders, pulling him down to kiss him. Kurt's body stiffened, but soon he relaxed as their bodies molded together. It was…almost perfect…

If not for the impending death coming towards them from the outside.

"Before we do this," Kurt mumbled into Blaine's lips as they pulled away, and Blaine cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"Mm?"

"I need you to do something."

Brittany pulled Santana away from the Shapeshifters, who were all stretching their bodies, ready for the onslaught they were about to face, and hugged her from behind, resting her chin on the shorter girl's shoulders.

"I love you so much, S."

Santana closed her eyes and clenched her fists, feeling Brittany's good vibes seep through her skin and sink into her bones. She felt the hairs on her neck stand up, and she gave one, small smile.

Placing her hands over Brittany's arms, she nodded. "I know…"

"You love me back, right?"

"Of course."

"And whatever happens out there-"

"Stop." She turned around, swiveling in Brittany's touch to come face to face with her. She stared into the blonde butterfly's eyes, swallowing hard as she leaned forward. "I just got you back. I'm not losing you as easily."

They sank into the comfort of the kiss, feeling everything around them fade, if only for a short while.

"Rachel."

She turned to Blaine and nodded curtly. "Yes?"

"Before we go into battle, there's something you need to do."

She nodded and followed him as he beckoned her to the side. There, Kurt stood with Quinn, and they were both staring expectantly at Blaine as he touched Rachel's shoulders.

"You know that I can negate any ability right? Even ones that have been there for a long time? You've been at this school since November, and it's now March. If my calculations are correct, Quinn's autosuggestions are still in your mind, and only be removing them by my power can you be fully free. And we need you on your top game to be able to fight properly. So I'm gonna just reach into your head and remove her influence from you. Alright?"

"Right."

"Let's get to it."

It felt like an electrical shock passed from his fingertips through to her spine, settling in the pit of her stomach. Blaine's eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open as he started to sweat uncontrollably. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kurt almost rush forward and stop everything. And then Blaine snapped awake.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean?"

He turned to Kurt and shrugged. "There's nothing there. Never was…" he turned to Rachel and shrugged again. "All I found was a suggestion that sounded like 'I want to be Quinn's friend'…and that's it. Nothing else." He winked at Rachel, a lazy close-open motion. "Guess like you two are in love after all, huh?"

As they filed outside, everybody having finally reconciled and prepared, the tension in the air sparked with static. Above them, the sun was slowly setting, and the fields had transformed into a bizarre gathering of freaks.

And then, the yell resounded.

"Charge!"


	19. Chapter 19

Puck saw her before she did. She had successfully kicked away a large Shapeshifter, a bear to be precise, and was back to back with Kurt. He took a quick look around, saw everyone was preoccupied, and rushed in her direction, ducking fireballs as he went.

_Where were all the teachers? Already dead? _

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her behind the rock, dragging Kurt with him. He crouched low, dragging them with him, and once he was sure they wouldn't shout out, removed his hands from their mouths.

"I'm on your side."

"What?" Kurt shouted out, and Puck quickly flicked him in the ear.

"Pipe down and listen! I was never on their side to begin with!"

"I don't-" Rachel began, and Puck rolled his eyes before silencing them.

"Look, you know The Madame, right? She's clairvoyant. She sees the future. And in November she saw all this -" He gestured around to the battlefield, "happen. She knew it was gonna go down like this, she knew that Santana would join and she told me that I had to join too, to keep an eye on her, to make sure everything goes according to Plan. She also wanted me to make sure that Ivy and Adamo don't get what they want, and if I was in the group, then I'd definitely be able to get back James, Grayson and Horatio on our side."

"Our side?" Kurt squealed, looking up above his head as somebody screamed in agony on the other side of the rock. "You mean they're good guys?"

"Yeah. They were just along for the ride with Ivy, to try and bring her down from the inside. The Madame told them to be friends with her when they first arrived."

"So all this?"

"Planned, yeah."

* * *

><p>Horatio ran up behind Quinn and flew over her shoulders, hitting the boy coming at her full in the face. He landed in front of her and winked at her.<p>

"I'm on your side, honey, don't be afraid."

"What?" she stared at him, distracted, but not distracted enough to miss a flying kick at a Fire Monger.

"I'm on your side! I always was!" he shouted to her as somewhere, something exploded. They took up back-to-back positions and started to fend off more attacks as they came.

"So why were you with Ivy?"

"To bring her down from the inside! Puck, he was in on it. So are the Twins. We're all trying to help you, we swear!"

Quinn turned her head slightly to look at him out of the corner of her eyes and nodded.

"I believe you. Now vault me over your shoulders so I can get to that jaguar coming at you."

* * *

><p>Brittany pinned Grayson against a tree, her elbow poking into his throat as he tried to wriggle free.<p>

"You're not getting out that easily…"

"Britt, wait!"

She turned around to look at Rachel as she ran towards her, and her hold on Grayson only tightened. "He's on our side! Puck just explained everything!"

Brittany turned her eyes to look at Grayson, who was nodding as he slowly turned blue.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Let him go!"

Grayson fell down to the grass as Brittany released her hold on him, rubbing at his bruised neck. He looked up at the battlefield and winced. "James is in on it too. But he's with Adamo. We have to…" He started to cough violently gesturing wildly towards the general direction of the top of the hill. "He's over there, in the centre of the fight."

Brittany's face suddenly transformed into worry as Quinn joined them, dragging Horatio with her.

"Santana was with you, Quinn! What's going on?"

Quinn shrugged. "I lost her. She'll be fine though, Britt."

"No!" Brittany suddenly shouted out, running towards where Grayson was pointing to. "She's in the centre of it all, I know it! We have to go there!"

* * *

><p>Blaine rushed to Kurt, pushing him down and covering his head as a rock hurtled over their heads. "Look where you're going!" he yelled at his boyfriend, who was rubbing at his bruised forehead.<p>

"Sorry! It's just…we think Santana's in trouble…"

Blaine frowned and pulled Kurt back up. "OK, let's go."

* * *

><p>Finn pushed Mercedes out of the way and grabbed the rock coming at them as if it was a piece of balled up paper. He tossed it back with one easy hand and rushed her on with him, behind a tree.<p>

"You alright?"

"I can handle myself, white boy."

"Right." He risked a look behind the tree and groaned. "There are too many of them and we're losing people…"

"Our friends?"

Finn looked at her and shrugged. "I thought you might now, being you're the Tracker. You're the one who Tracked every one of us, remember?"

She nodded. "Yeah…I do…"

"Are they still alive?"

She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow, breathing heavily. Finn got up onto his feet, crouching low, ready to protect her if anything came her way. She shook her head.

"They're all alive…"

* * *

><p>Tina moved through yet another attack and found the perfect person to possess, a fire monger (my God there were a lot of them!). She slipped into his body and found herself, grinning manically as the fire started at her finger prints. She started to shoot them out, one by one, hitting each of her 'teammates' in the chest and sending them screaming backwards. She felt alive, powerful…<p>

And big.

She looked down at her body. Whoever this guy was, he was almost as tall as Finn and twice as strong from the size of his muscles.

"Mike!" she shouted out, and she spotted him swinging from a tree, kicking somebody in the chest and sending them backwards into a group of five other people who were running towards him. They all fell backwards, human dominoes…

"Tina?"

She pointed at the hill. "We have to get here!"

He nodded. "On it!" He stretched his legs and reached them to as far as they could go, right at the base of the hill. She slipped out of the hulking giant of a body and, still in her transparent ghost form, rushed after him.


	20. Chapter 20

Kurt and Rachel were the first ones on the hill.

Rachel found herself gagging as she held back the urge to vomit. The sight of bloody and broken bodies around her was too much. She thought she saw some Sirens, pale with death and lying in a heap on the side. She knew two of them…

"Kurt…"

"I know," he whispered back, but his eyes were transfixed on the lone figure standing in the very centre of the hill, strangling someone. A final, pained scream came from the body as it fell to the floor, and Ivy turned around, grinning manically at the two Sirens.

"Hello."

Her voice was a whisper, a small word that floated through the still air towards them, sent their fighting spirit cowering into a hole in their minds. Her hands were stained and bloody, her mouth too. Her eyes were large, wide, mad, hungry. Her teeth were bared, her hair flying all over the place.

It was the worst thing Rachel had ever seen.

"You think you can defeat me?" she asked, still as soft as before, still as menacing. In one quick movement, she had pounced forward and was standing before them.

"Tell you what. I'm feeling generous. You get the first hit."

Rachel couldn't help staring into those eyes, those totally insane circles. She was mesmerized by them, totally caught in the trap. She thought she saw Ivy's teeth elongate, and feel Kurt pull at her, and the first thought that rushed through her head was 'Where's Santana when you need her?'

Then she screamed.

She wasn't aware that she was doing it, but pretty soon Ivy was backing off, clutching her ears as they bled. She was hissing angrily, her eyes slits and her teeth gritting together. She was mouthing what looked like 'I am going to kill you' but Rachel just kept emitting the scream, hoping against hope that she could keep it up long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Kurt had joined her, and the two were slowly backing Ivy back into where she had previously stood.

Suddenly, they both fell backwards, a gust of wind hitting them in the chest and winding them both, sending them sprawling down the slope. She heard yells as she was caught by Tina and Mike, and Blaine caught Kurt. They all looked up at Ivy as she grinned, standing next to a Wind Monger who they had seen around the school. She reached a hand up, the nails growing into talons, bloody and dirty from the previous mauling.

"I'll make it quick."

But she never took the first step.

A knife appeared in her side; attached to it was a dark haired figure, panting heavily and sporting large angry scars over her neck.

"Santana!" Brittany cried out, but Puck grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her away from the two frozen Shapeshifters.

"Did you know," they heard Santana say as she dug the knife deeper into Ivy's ribs, "that if a Shapeshifter becomes very skilled, they can eventually transform their bodies into those of inanimate objects? And not just their whole body, parts of their body too."

Rachel's eyes wandered down to Santana's wrist, and gawped as she realized that her hand and the knife where one and the same.

"So you see, looks like I am the stronger one."

Ivy's eyes were fluttering shut as Santana drove the knife ever deeper, and then she removed it, giving it back it's true form as soon as it was out of Ivy's body, letting the girl fall to the ground. The Wind Monger turned on his heel and rushed off down the hill, yelling something about their leader being dead.

Santana turned her eyes to her friends, paying no heed to her victim lying at her feet. She nodded her head to the left and winced slightly.

"Adamo's that way. Let's go."

Quinn and Finn had long reached Adamo before the others, having spotted him as they had run to the hill. Finn had quickly knocked him out with a flying kick, and Quinn had found it in her ability to reach into his mind and plant a Sleep thought in his head, leaving him out cold for hours.

Now the only problem was themselves.

Finn had turned to her immediately, lashing out at her viciously. She had jumped onto him and started to claw at his face, growling angrily as he persisted against her.

"Why would you try and ruin my relationship with Rachel?" she cried out, her hands gripping at his throat.

"Why would you force it on her?"

"I didn't you idiot! Let it go!"

"You used your power on her!"

"By accident!"

"Stop!"

They both turned around, watching as Rachel ran to them. She was pulling along the rest of the group with her, some limping, some unharmed.

"We have a battle to fight, remember?"

Finn nodded and released Quinn, who fell to her feet and rushed at Rachel, barreling into her and pressing her lips eagerly to hers, pressing her hands on Rachel's cheeks, feeling the smaller girl's hands drift to her back and clasp onto her.

"Guys?"

Quinn felt Rachel suck lightly on her bottom lip and she opened her mouth as invitation…

"Guys?"

Rachel reached one down to Quinn's hips and clasped tightly, running her hand slowly to Quinn's front…

"Guys! No sex now! Sex later!"

They pulled away and Quinn locked eyes with her lover, staring into them as she nodded.

"Sex later. Right now we have a battle to finish."


	21. Chapter 21

"Hold still, Noah!"

He winced as yet another stitch as added to the gradually closing scar, biting on his lower lip. "It just really hurts, OK?"

"Yeah, sure, just keep calm!"

He looked at the nurse working on him and frowned, gulping back his worries before opening his mouth to speak.

"MY friends…are they…?"

"They're all alright, Noah. Nobody's hurt that badly and you'll all be back on your feet by next week. Of course, it'll take longer for the college itself to be rebuilt but…"

"Don't worry, we'll fix it. I promise."

* * *

><p>Rachel lay on a bed, her eyes closed and her lips pursed as she felt the warm liquid the nurse had slipped into her mouth work its way down her throat. Beside her, clutching her right hand, Kurt was going through the same treatment. The nurses had said that they had worked their vocal chords to a record strain, and that they wouldn't be able to speak for the next hour or so until the medicine took full effect.<p>

And so, here she was, trying to fall asleep…

When Quinn and Blaine popped into the room.

Blaine rushed to Kurt's side, and Rachel felt his hand leave hers and clutch at his boyfriend's body, hugging him tightly. Blaine was hugging him too, rocking them back and forth on the bed, and she was sure she heard him say something along the lines of 'I'm so glad you're OK'.

She turned her eyes to Quinn, who was standing at the foot of her bed with wide eyes, her cheeks scratched but clean.

"You're alright?"

A nod.

"Can't talk?"

A shake of the head and one index finger put up.

"You've got one hour of no words. Wow. That must be tough."

Rolling her eyes, Rachel gestured to Quinn to join her on the bed, and Quinn did, putting her arms around Rachel and pulling her to her chest, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Sleep, my little songbird…I love you…"

And she did.

* * *

><p>"How are Mike and Tina?"<p>

"Good."

"Mercedes?"

"Not hurt."

"Finn?"

"Alive."

"Who got hurt the most?"

Brittany laughed and reached out to Santana's face, brushing away a few strands of stray hair from her girlfriend's face. "I think it was you. You weren't ready for a fight like that but you went for it…"

"I know. So stupid of me."

"But Santana, I'm proud of you…"

The darker girl groggily smiled and pulled at Brittany's hand, bringing it to her mouth and kissing the fingers. "You didn't have to give blood for me."

"I'm an O Positive, honey. It was only fair…"

"I love you, you know."

Brittany nodded and took her hand back.

"I love you too."

* * *

><p>"One more time, OK? You either repent or whatever, or we kill you."<p>

Adamo looked up at Finn, sticking his tongue out and winking at him.

"Nope."

"Wrong answer, asshole," Tina said as she reached over and slapped him across the face, hard enough to swing his face backwards and to almost make him fall over. "You killed two of our friends and almost killed most of them today. So you either answer in the right way or we will kill you."

"But there is no right answer."

"Wrong answer again, idiot!" Mike growled, slapping him himself. "Look, let me make it simple. You walk out of here without a scratch and a new outlook on life or we get rid of you right here, right now."

"Then do it!" he laughed manically, his eyes spinning between the people in the room. Finn, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, and the Leaders.

"Do we?" Mercedes asked, slowly turning to the Leaders, enshrouded in shadow behind them. They hadn't earned the privilege to see their faces today, not yet…

"Yes," a voice rang out.

Finn shrugged and stepped forward, bunching his hands into fists.

"Lights out, mother fucker."


	22. Chapter 22

Finn was still wiping blood off of his hands, mumbling about idiots and psychotic maniacs, when Puck walked into the bathroom and frowned at him. He stood near the door for a few minutes, watching as Finn rubbed at his knuckles and palms vigorously in an effort to try and cleanse them from the evidence of his brutality.

"So he's done for?"

"Definitely. And Tina took care of his soul…or what little was left of it. She's with Mike talking to other souls in the…battle grounds right now."

Finn turned around and smiled at Puck. "How are the others?"

"Santana's all wounded but she's being patched up. Brittany's with her, what a surprise!" He snorted and walked closer to Finn, leaning against one of the sinks, his eyes travelling down to his own scarred and beaten fists. "Kurt and Blaine are fine, and so is Quinn. And Rachel."

Finn smiled again, concentrating on his own hands once more. "Good."

"Dude, I need to talk to you about that."

"About my hands?" he gave a small laugh, putting his hands up as they dripped soap and water.

"No. About Rachel and Quinn."

Finn wiped his hands on his shirt, giving a small sad smile and following Puck outside of the bathroom and to the corridor, where previously it had been filled with hundreds of students preparing themselves for battle. Now…so little were left…

"Why did you try and break them up?"

Finn shrugged, walking towards the room they shared, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

"Dude, that's not an answer. Give me words, a sentence, a reason. A motive!" Puck almost wanted to scream at him, shake him, force the words from his throat.

"I was jealous, alright? Quinn got the girl I liked, just like she got every other girl I liked! She always does that and she's never fair! She uses her powers and it's not right! Isn't that what they teach us at this school? They teach us control, how to not use your powers. And all she does is use them over and over again!"

Puck brought his hand up to Finn's face and threw it across his face, glaring at him, his teeth barred angrily.

"Listen to me, Finn, and listen good. Quinn would never use her powers like that, not on Rachel, not on anyone she loves and cares about. She's done it before, yeah. She's used her powers on girls and that sucks, I admit. But she's changed. She's grown."

He stopped and turned around, walking back to the hospital wing so he could talk to the girls, but not before turning back to Finn and saying a few last words.

"Maybe it's time you grow up too, Finn."

* * *

><p>Nobody ever really entered this part of the school. It was an unthinkable thought, that the Leaders call a student – a mere child – to their lair.<p>

But today unthinkable things had happened. And Finn wasn't a child anymore.

He entered the room, staring up at the Leaders, the faces that had been hidden from him mere hours before. They sat behind raised podiums, high above his head. He craned his neck back, trying to catch their eye, look at them better.

"You enter unannounced and unexpected, child," the Madame said, her voice carrying through the stale air of the room. She might as well have been shouting at him as he winced, looking away from her.

"I am not a child."

"You are not yet an adult."

"I have seen my comrades die," Finn said as he raised his head, squaring his shoulders and blinking away tears. Sam, Artie, Azimio, Hughie from Group… "If that doesn't make an adult out of someone I don't know what will."

"Master Hudson, why are you here?" he heard the Doctor ask, and he turned to him rapidly, clenching his hands into fists.

"I wish for a Group transfer. Please."

"It does not become you to beg, Master Hudson."

"Then I demand it. I demand a Group change."

A murmur swept over the room and he started to blush, feeling his face grow redder, his shame grow. Why ask this of them? Why make himself such a fool in front of these people?

"And why do you desire this?"

His knees were buckling together, he was sweating as he looked up at them, trying to regain his former bravado. He was still a child…not really an adult…not yet…

"My team mates-"

"You worked well with them today. We are most proud of you, Master Hudson."

"But they-"

"I would think that you would not want to change groups after what happened to you all today."

"But I can't! I'll be reminded of…those two…every day!"

Silence fell again, once more. Finn was getting tired of it, this never ending contemplation from his elders as they scrutinized him, made him feel like an idiot for appearing before him.

"Come here, boy."

He moved closer to the voice of the Doctor, who was holding his hand out and down towards him, and he touched his hand with the older man's. A flash of light erupted somewhere in his mind – he felt it more than saw it – and then felt something like soft footsteps clambering through his mind, treading around slowly and poking and prodding gently…

"Ah," the Doctor nodded. "I see, I understand." He turned to the others and nodded. "He has good reasons, albeit slightly selfish ones."

"We do not condone selfishness at this school," he heard a voice whisper angrily, a voice he couldn't pinpoint.

"Yes, but he has his own reasons. Staying with this group will ruin the dynamic. He has problems with two of the girls in the group, or just one, really. He will break the Group up, make them weaker if we let them stay together after what has transpired between these people…"

The Leaders all turned their eyes to each other, two frowning, one certain, two crossing their arms.

"We will consider your offer, Master Hudson. You are dismissed."

* * *

><p>"Finn?"<p>

He smiled as he entered Santana's hospital room, shyly shuffling over to her and smiling down at her, ignoring everyone's gawking stares.

"Are you OK?"

"I'll be fine…" she murmured at him, her eyes wide as she watched him sit down next to them and nod at everyone else. "We just…we just heard. About your Group change. What happened?"

He looked around at all the faces, some staring, some glaring, some puzzled. He shrugged and leaned back in his seat, looking at Rachel and Quinn as he spoke.

"Your voice back yet, Rachel?"

"Yes," she hoarsely answered, giving a small cough when she heard her own voice. "I won't be able to speak clearly for the next few days though…"

"You did good, every one of you, out there today," Finn murmured as his eyes travelled across all the faces of his friends. "We lost two people these past few months, and more today. It's sad. A few hours ago we were out there fighting for our lives and…well…"

"Finn, get to the point."

He winced as Quinn's voice pierced his ears and let out a breath through his teeth.

"I realized that I was stupid, and wrong, for what I did to Rachel and Quinn. I shouldn't have come between you two. It's just…" He gave a loud sigh and shook his head. "I don't know. I was being selfish. And so…I got a Group change. There's too much tension between our group because of me, and I don't want that anymore. I want to be your friend, if you'll let me," here his eyes roamed the room again, watching as everyone's eyes remained on him. "…but I don't want to make things worse. We lost Artie and Sam. I don't want to lose you guys too because of some stupid mistake I made."

Silently, the group all looked at each other, before finally looking at Quinn, who rose and walked over to him.

"Don't do that again, alright? She's mine now."

He nodded. "Understood."

"We'll miss you in Group, Finn," Brittany mumbled sweetly, clutching Santana's hand in her own tightly. "You were always a good leader…"

He shrugged. "After what happened today and in the past few months, I don't really think I deserve that title…"

Slowly, he got up and walked over to Santana, patting her on the head as if she was the dog she liked to shift into. "Get better, alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

He turned to the rest of the occupants in the room and nodded. "I'll see you all later."

And with that, he left.


	23. Chapter 23

**[WOO! Just two more chapters until the end after this! Thank you for sticking through with it and reading :3]**

"Miss Berry?"

Rachel looked up at the woman as she gestured to her, smiling. "The Leaders would like to see you now."

It was a week after the ordeal, and the school had quickly been rebuilt. All the surviving students had helped, and all their dead had been buried. Many students had left, their parents coming up to drag them home, but Rachel's friends had all refused to leave before they were sure everything at the school was fine. And they didn't. They stayed on, helping the younger students cope with everything, taking teacher's places and teaching the students themselves how to control their powers, building up everything that had been lost.

And the Leaders wanted to talk to them.

Rachel had been sitting in the little waiting room outside the Leaders' office for a few minutes before Santana walked in, curling up into a small, awkward ball on the arm chair in front of her, winking at her.

"You got called too?"

"Yes…"

"Wonder what they want…"

And now, here she was, stepping into the room where she was to take audience, finding her legs to be shaking.

"Miss Rachel Barbra Berry…" a voice rang out, and she looked up in hopes of spotting the face, but only saw darkness above the shoulders. The figure in the centre was gesturing at her as it spoke, and she was almost sure the voice was coming from him.

"You have shown remarkable prowess and skill, and even leaderships in recent happenings at this school…"

"Thank you," she murmured, sure that they had heard her.

"Are you aware of the Tutor system at this school?"

"Not in detail…"

"Well," a female voice answered, and the figure it came from leaned forward slightly, but not out of the shadows. "We chose the wrong Tutors in the past, I'm afraid. We would base our choice on power, and how good they were at using their power. The recently diseased Ivy Harris is one of them. We should have judged on other, more defining abilities. A Tutor is an example for all the students to follow, what normal schools call a Perfect. And you, Miss Berry, would be perfect for that."

Stunned, she stared up at them, her mouth hanging open slightly as it sank in. Finally, she would be revered as the leader she truly was, she would be looked up to, she would be known and loved…

"Miss Berry?"

"I would love to."

-0-

"We do not condone murder at this school, Miss Lopez."

"I understand," she murmured in response, hanging her head as she stood before them, giving a small nod.

"You did, however, save your friends and act in self defense. For this, we are grateful. And so, we'd like you to take Ivy's place as Tutor."

"I don't understand…"

"Miss Lopez, you are a brilliant leader and fighter, who puts her friends and loved one first. For that, you would be the perfect Tutor. We need somebody like you for the students to look up to, and we need you to protect the people you care about."

Santana grinned and looked back up, her smile showing off her sharp canines, her eyes shining slightly. "Thank you."

"You will definitely make a better Tutor than Ivy Harris did."

-0-

When Santana and Rachel emerged the next day into the courtyard where the rest of the surviving students were waiting beneath a platform, they were greeted with applause. Both of their stunning girlfriends ran at them, proudly cheering on their new status with the rest of the school, who all started clapping and yelling in congratulations. Puck was the next to arrive, also greeted with the same enthusiasm, the first in a legacy of Daemons to be deemed of a 'good' nature, and then came Tina and Mike, also newly promoted.

The five of them stood on their new pedestal, and grinned down at their audience.

Who said no good ever came out of a war?

**[I'm so sorry it's so short! I'll try and make the next chapter longer, I swear. But I'm seriously sorry the chapters kept getting shorter and shorter lately…I'm just not one to write increasingly long chapters…it's not my thing…]**


	24. Chapter 24

**June, 2012**

Rachel yawned as she stirred awake, stretching her toes and her arms above her head as she felt the sun's early morning rays hit the bed she was sleeping in so comfortably. The light swam over her face, bathing her in it and seeping nicely into her skin. She opened one eye, and turned her face away from the sun, to her wonderful girlfriend fast asleep next to her.

"Quinn, get up."

"Erofme…" Quinn shrugged Rachel's hand away, moving away slightly and curling up tighter into a ball. "No school for me today…"

"No school for anyone today, honey. Last day of school for this year."

Quinn rolled over and cracked an eye open, suddenly wide awake.

"No way…it's the twenty-fifth already?"

Rachel nodded and Quinn's face cracked into a large grin as she tumbled out of their shared bed and marched towards her wardrobe, glancing over at Brittany and Santana's bed where the two were comfortably sleeping in each other's embraces.

"Should we wake them up?"

Rachel shook her head as she moved to the edge of the joint beds, watching her girlfriend with loving brown eyes. "Let's let them sleep some more…"

When ten o' clock rolled around it saw everybody packing their bags and piling them outside of their dormitory room, standing in the door way and saying goodbye to their roommates, promising to not forget them over the summer. It saw the teachers standing guard as they watched one student after another leave the college with an unspoken promise to return the next year.

Wait…not almost everybody was doing all this.

Standing near the large rock which had managed to stand throughout the whole battle, stood the group of teenagers that had so bravely fought in what was now called The Hilltop War of 2012. Months later and they were rebuilding their college one step at a time, slowly recruiting new members, teaching old ones and maintaining some sort of pride in what they had done for their sacred space.

"So, this is it," Tina smiled, looking at all of them standing on the North side of the rock, looking towards the hill. "It's all over, I guess…"

"For this year. Next year they'll be bigger and worse people to deal with!" Santana pessimistically muttered, clutching at Brittany's hand for courage. "Just you wait."

"Yeah, but until then we've got three whole months of summer to enjoy!" Puck waved her pessimism away, giving a large grin. The tattoos on his arms had actually grown in number, ever since he had finally gained better control of his powers. Demon after demon sought refuge in his body, and for each one, he got a new imprint, a new name embedded amongst the Latin swirls. "We shouldn't be worrying about bad guys and evil students during that time!"

"I still get nightmares, you know…" Brittany whispered into Santana's ear, clutching her arm tightly. "I still hear them…the screaming and the people dying. I still see you…get attacked…" She pouted, her bottom lip protruding out sadly, her eyelashes brimming over with tears. Santana kissed her tenderly, trying to calm her down, cupping the back of the blonde's neck.

"Shush, darling, it's OK. I'm fine, it's over."

And she was fine. Her powers were steadily growing, her scars slowly fading but not completely. She still had the marks over her chest and neck, but she didn't mind. On nights like last, when she would be lying in bed, feeling the scars over with her fingers, Brittany would flip her over and kiss the outlines of the marks, trailing her lips across them tenderly, trying to calm her down…

"Yeah, it is over. Thankfully…" Puck nodded in agreement, and shuffled his feet next to his duffel bag.

"So, what are you guys gonna do this summer?"

"I don't know about you guys," Rachel laughed, "but I intend on spending my summer with Quinn at the beach."

"Sounds like a plan," Quinn giggled, grabbing her girlfriend's arm and bringing her hand up to her own lips, kissing the knuckles tenderly. "I'd love to go along with that."

"Blaine and I are going to New York for a month, revel in the whole no-hiding-who-you-really-are thing they have there. It would really help my own self esteem…and Blaine really wants to go to a concert there."

"Hello, Nicki Minaj!"

A ripple of laughter went through the group, and Puck put his hand up.

"I'm gonna go to Tibet. There's a group of Daemons there, and the way I see it they could really help me with learning how to control my powers. I'll stay there the entire summer, come back at the start of next year."

"I'm gonna help Burt with the tire shop, get used to the ropes and all that."

"There's a summer camp that wants people to help with the kids' music classes. I thought I could give them a little bit of my Aretha in their life!"

"I'm going to help at my uncle's duck farm. Santana might come with me-"

"But if I don't I'll just spend all my summer with my family by the pool."

"Mike and I were hoping to maybe just relax this summer. It would be fun, you know?"

"Yeah, not having to worry about University and all that. I'd like that…having a power gets rid of that responsibility."

The whole group went silent after what Mike said, and Rachel grabbed one of the five bags at her feet, hoisting it onto her shoulder. "Well, we best be off. My fathers are picking Quinn and I up and then we're both staying at my place."

"Yeah, we should get going too," Santana murmured. "Britt and I are going to my holiday house near the lake."

"Don't have too much sex, you four!" Mike called after the four girls as they walked down the hill towards the cars. Rachel turned to Quinn and smiled at her, grabbing her fingers lightly with her own.

"You ready?"

Quinn looked down the hill, at the Berry men and the bright red car they stood next to, at the students milling out to meet their parents, hugging their friends goodbye.

"Yeah. I'm ready."

Rachel knew that, inevitably, they would meet their friends in summer, and that even if they didn't they would end up seeing each other the next scholastic year. The bond they had developed – saving each other, protecting each other, seeing their friends die – was too strong to be broken by a few months of separation…

But one thing she was certain of: her new home was St Clementine's, and as broken and as sad as it could become, it was fixed and well again, and she couldn't wait to return, with her girl at her side and a smile on her face.


	25. Epilogue

Graduation day was the most important day of their lives.

Quinn quickly patted down her quickly frizzing hair and turned to Rachel, grinning. "So, we meet the others at the Rock, then we all go together to the football field, where we officially graduate. Yeah?"

"Yes, Quinn, we've said this over a dozen times."

"Just making sure…"

They weren't dressed in their robes yet, but they were slung in Quinn's arms, both hers and Rachel's. The smaller girl was swinging her hand between them, smiling up at her. A year (and more) later, and they were still strong. Quinn's mother loved Rachel, and Rachel's parents adored Quinn. Things were great, especially since they had received their Letters of Promotion. And now, Rachel and Quinn had officially accepted Heroship.

Things were finally looking up, and everything was officially mended.

"Rachel and Quinn, get over here!" Brittany laughed loudly as the two approached the already gathered group, waving at them with a wide smile. She wasn't in her graduation robes, nobody was, but they were all carrying them in bags, the crooks of their arms, in bundles at their feet.

"So, guys, how's it been?" Quinn smiled at them as she hugged Brittany, looking around the group. "Anybody else got Heroship?"

"I did!" Puck grinned as he hugged Rachel, winking at Quinn. "I'm Sole Hero in Africa, first of my kind as both a solo act _and_ a Daemon!"

"Tina and I are in the New York Hero Cell, A5. Anybody else in that too?" Mike smiled shyly, waving his arm around vaguely.

"That's Quinn and I!" Rachel laughed. "Good to know we were entrusted with the fate of one of my favourite places in the world!"

"What about you guys?" Tina asked, turning to the two couples standing on the side, leaning against the Rock, smiling at each other.

"Well, Santana said something about moving to New York, living there, getting married, all that sort of thing. It would be pretty cool, right, San?"

"Yeah, it would," her girlfriend agreed, nuzzling her nose into her cheek. "We'd raise a family of shapeshifting, extremely attractive, people magnets."

"And they'd be perfect, just like their mother," Brittany continued, smiling at the shorter girl cuddling into her. "But we haven't got anything big planned, and we weren't offered Heroships, so…"

"But we'll probably continue our education or something. Get into University, try and get jobs, that sort of thing."

"And you guys?" Rachel asked Blaine and Kurt, who were proudly sporting rings from their trip that Christmas to Las Vegas, where they had quickly gotten married and then came back as the fabulous Mr. and Mr. Hummel-Anderson. They were now both living in a tiny apartment not far from the school, and had both their family's full support, as well as each other, which they thought was the most important.

"We're gonna get jobs and save up money to get a bigger place. We're happy here," Blaine smiled, looking at Kurt and squeezing his hand. "I mean, I wouldn't mind continuing my education, and I know that Kurt wouldn't either-"

"I'll audition for NYADA next year, we'll move to New York, we'll live there together and we'll get awesome jobs, maybe raise a family!" Kurt's enthusiasm oozed out of his voice as he dreamily stared at his husband, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. "We have the rest of our lives ahead of us and it looks so…bright!"

Santana gave a gag of disgust, masking it with a wink in the boys' direction. "Good luck with that, fairies."

"I understand that by using that term you are showing your respect and happiness for us, Santana, but please-"

"Babe," Blaine cut Kurt off, putting a hand on his arm. He nodded at Santana, smiling slightly. "Thanks."

Santana shrugged. "Any time, Hobbit."

"So, guys, shall we move?" Mercedes asked, pointing towards the area where a large tent stood, where they were to finally graduate and start new lives.

"Wait!"

They all turned, not expecting to hear the familiar voice of one Finn Hudson as he strutted up to them, already clad in his graduation robe, smiling at them. After the previous year, Finn had avoided them, being transferred to another room and Group. He seemed to want to make it up to them for the wrong he had done to Rachel and Quinn, and he seemed to think that by not talking to his old friends, it would work. The group dynamic had been restored, but it had felt wrong without him…

"Hi, guys."

"Finn, hi," Rachel was the first to speak, intending on ending this year on good terms with the oafish giant. "We haven't seen you at all this year…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I just…wanted to say congrats. To all of you. I mean, even Tina and Blaine are graduating early because of the bravery they showed in battle and that's…awesome! And yeah, I'm just really proud to say I know you guys."

He gave one last time, making it turn around and walk away in his own direction, when Rachel grabbed his wrist and pulled him to her, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, tentatively, and looked at the rest of the people standing nearby, who were giving him small looks of approval and friendship. He nodded at the group in general, and dislodged himself from the hug, walking away.

"Well, that was all kinds of awkward. Let's go," Quinn whispered into Rachel's ear, pulling her away and towards the rest of the group again. "We have a graduation to get to."

* * *

><p>"Hi, my name is Mike Chang, valedictorian for the graduation class of 2013." He cleared his throat and shuffled his papers in his hands, taking a deep breath before starting to read off his notes, ready to deliver his message to the parents and students sitting before him. He looked over at Tina quickly in the second row, who gave him a thumbs up and a wink. He grinned back at her and turned back to his waiting audience.<p>

"At the beginning of last year, I was a kid who could dance and stretch his limbs to impossible lengths. Nothing special in our little world, right? Well, I thought so too. I thought I was just pretty lame, with nothing to my name but a few good pop-and-lock skills and a beautiful girl on my arm. I was happy being in the background, and I should have realized that I didn't have to be.

"Last year, tragedy struck our school, and it was finally my turn to jump up and take a stand. I fought for my friends' lives, and I protected each and every one of them, even if some fell and never got back up. I lost so many friends that faithful day in the spring, when our own kind turned against us in a thirst for power, but I also realized that who I was was important, and who I am right now standing before you is the product of all that. Because of the pain of losing people, of fighting a battle I was too young to fight, I grew, and became the man you see before you.

"I saw people die, and I think I may have killed someone that night. I'm ashamed, but it's true. But I'm not ashamed of what I am now: a strong, independent man who is now officially…a Hero. I am happy, I am strong, and I am proud, because if there's anything this school has taught me is that we are all stars. We are all little balls of helium that shine just as brightly as the next, and this school gave us the opportunity to do just that. They taught me that who I am, what I am, what I can do, is important, and can be developed, and that I am not as bad as I think I am. What I learnt here, is that every power makes a contribution, every power is important, and that I have my powers for a reason.

"From the Great Battle to this year's accident when the Animii's collective powers when haywire and everybody in the school switched bodies with their roommate, I've had the time of my life here, and I hope to never forget what I learnt at this school."

He gave a small, soft smile as he put his papers in his pocket, then leaned forward slightly towards the microphone, nodding his head.

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>"It's over, it's done."<p>

Santana nodded and leaned towards her girlfriend, kissing her lightly.

"Every scar was so fucking worth it," she whispered against Brittany's lips, cupping the back of her neck lovingly and rubbing their noses together. "I'd do it all again."

"All?" Brittany teased, and Santana frowned slightly.

"Well, I'd leave out the breaking your heart, and the maiming part, and listening to Rachel about our relationship. But yes. I'd do it all again."

* * *

><p>"Mr Hummel-Anderson," Blaine grinned at his husband, extending his hand and helping Kurt up onto the wall he was sitting on, watching as everyone a way off was hugging their parents and congratulating each other.<p>

"Why, thank you, Mr. Hummel-Anderson," Kurt joked, pecking Blaine on the cheek and resting his head on his shoulder. "We've done a good job."

"We really have, huh?"

* * *

><p>"Rachel?"<p>

She turned around to look at the blonde approaching her, with a large grin on her face and a rose clutched firmly in her hand. She extended it to her girlfriend and leant down, kissing her fiercely and passionately, cupping her face with one hand while the other curled around her waist.

"I am so proud of you."

"I am too, Quinn."

"I love you so much."

"I do too."

They were standing alone, to the side, out of the crowd and away from their parents, relishing in each other one last time before they were sucked back into the throng of people, and they were happy. They were going to New York, they were in love, and they were happy.

"Hey, love birds, come on over here and let's take a picture!" they heard from Kurt, and then the harsh barking laugh of Santana as she said something (possibly) crude about Quinn's tongue. The two girls looked at each other, laughed, and Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand, pulling her into the people all wearing bright red graduation robes.

* * *

><p>If you had went up to Rachel Berry two years before and told her that she had the power to shatter ear drums and hypnotize people, that she was part of an elite group of super humans, that she was one day going to fall in love with a perfect girl, that she was one day going to be happy, she wouldn't have believed you at all.<p>

But here and now, in a group of people taking a picture together, she couldn't remember anything but this school, her friends, this moment, her powers.

And the precious woman standing right next to her, clutching her hand and loving her for all she was.

**END**


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